Concert Review
South Park Amphitheatre, South Park, PA
July 12, 2013
A blanket of humanity armed with cameras and various Partridge Family memorabilia voiced their approval of David's first appearance in their South Park/Pittsburgh community after many years. One young fellow next to us even brought his own tambourine to the celebration and proceeded to shake it all night long.
Sporting his trademark white shirt and dark trousers, David welcomed the adoring fans the best way possible by singing, talking and joking with them for the next 75 minutes. A funky 'C'mon Get Happy' and bass driven 'Heartbeat' had fans running to the stage as security scrambled to hold them back, while 'Alburquerque', 'Summer Days' and 'Hush' elicited some very imaginative dancing in the aisles.
David told us of a new injury to his right forearm caused by the spouting of hot radiator fluid when he attempted to examine his stalled corvette on the road in South Florida. Sadly it hampered his guitar playing and we could see him wincing in pain at various points during the perfomance.
As a result of David's laryngitis earlier in the week and delayed flights due to rainstorms and floods this was a concert that may never have taken place but Mother Nature gave us a break shortly before showtime and all was good again.
'I'm A Believer and 'Dayream Believer', a fine tribute to Davy Jones and the Monkees drew a standing ovation from the crowd after which David proceeded to treat us with a lovely acoustic version of 'Halfway'. Soreness in the arm due to the injury prevented David from following up the song with another guitar driven track so he passed the spotlight on to Teri Cote and she traded drums for centre stage with 'Brass In Pocket'.
"Oh I could say I need you, how much I want You" sang David looking up to the skies possibly to his mother while singing a hearfelt 'Cherish' and then pointing to the audience members as he strode from one end of the stage to the other. "I cherish each and every one of you" said David at the song's conclusion and this brought out another loud chorus of cheers from the very happy audience.
He mentioned his connection to the city through his stepmom, Shirley Jones, who was Miss Pittsburg back in the 1950s and who passed on her greetings and love to the audience. David also talked about his band being fans of the Steelers football team evidenced by the t-shirts, caps and multicoloured wigs worn by Teri, Frank and Craig.
As usual the band was in top form with tremendous guitar solos by Dave, power drumming from Teri, special low end plucking from Frank, and spectacular piano/keyboard/orchestral creations by Craig. They truly complement David's supple vocals and stage presence.
A fun version of 'Doesn't Somebody' complete with some joking about the silly lyrics to the spoken bridge gave way to a rocking 'I Woke Up In Love' with David trying out some of his best Eric Clapton guitar riffs at the end.
One thing David did which I really appreciated was to tell excited fans that pushed their way to the stage to move over to the side out of respect to those of us sitting in the front. This wasn't much of a problem because Pittsburg/South Park residents were some of the nicest people we've ever encountered in the USA. Even the drivers on the roads were unnaturally polite.
He thanked the audience for their many years of support and for coming to the show just as a fan threw her red underwear on the stage. David picked it up by the ends wondering aloud if the person sending it "was wearing them" hence feeling "kinda weird about touching" the lingerie. Lots of laughter followed while Criag pumped out the opening chords to "I Think I Love You" and before we knew it, the show was over.
Ten minutes of shouts for an encore fell to deaf ears as David was probably on his way to the hotel/airport by this time. It took us 40 minutes to get out of the packed parking lot while happy fans took turns singing their favourite Cassidy tunes of the evening.
Personally I would have loved to have heard some newer songs as David performed at Secenca Niagara a couple of weeks before but if this was the first concert I was attending it certainly would have left me pleased.
By Lucio
See more great photos by Lucio here.
