Concert Review
David Cassidy @ The Des Plaines Summer Fling
July 14, 2012David's performance at the Summer Fling was the first time I'd ever seen him live. And live he was! He radiated an incredible amount of energy and happiness, which was generously reciprocated back to him from the audience. He performed for a fast 90 minutes; he would say a few words between songs, but the pace never slowed down. Throughout the show, he spoke of Davy Jones, Des Plaines, his thinning hair, his fractured middle finger on his left hand (which he showed us with his hand politely downward), the brunette "girl" on the cover of Sound Magazine, and the music that had influenced his life. When he spoke of his friendship with Davy and how dear we fans are to him, I felt a genuine sincerity in his words.
He started off the evening with his song lyrics on a music stand. I appreciate his attempt to overcome his "creative lyrical rearrangement syndrome"; but eventually he broke away from the music stand and moved around the stage. The man is too energetic, too expressive, to stay in one place. Yes, he rewrote some songs on the spot; I didn't care, and I don't think anyone else did, either.
And, yes, there was the woman who kept yelling, "Sing 'I Think I Love You'!" over and over (maybe she was one of the famous Chicago parrots?) in-between songs, while David attempted to talk. After a while of this, David finally said "Shh! Shh! Please, it's really hard for me to concentrate when you're yelling." This was not said in anger, but more of a plea. She yelled back "But we love you!" He said "I love you too" and started up the next song. She tried to continue yelling but a few of us in the audience stared her down. I'm thinking there's one or more of these people in every audience of his, and I think David handled it very tactfully and very professionally.
From a purely musical standpoint, his voice and ability on the guitar were fantastic. Teri did a great job on "Brass in Pocket". When he let each of the band members jam out in turn, I was amazed at the wealth of talent on the stage.
Aside from his obvious showmanship, the best quality David has going for him is his personality. He radiated a joy and friendliness that continued in spite of the fractured finger, the yeller, and the humidity (90 degrees with a thunderstorm threat). As he left the stage after "I Think I Love You", I turned to a woman I'd chatted with and said, "well, he wasn't perfect, but-" She smiled and said, "I think he was".
I smiled back. She was absolutely right.
Review by Kristi Paddock
