At the last minute I decided to check out Hall & Oats at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night because I had dozens of friends going and a ticket was floating around. I’d been thinking of going to this show but failed to commit because of life issues, but I really wanted to see the opening acts Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. Once I was sure I could make it there in time to see the openers and was ready to commit.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue started off with a set the blended blues and jazz into what we all consider the New Orleans sound. They are fun, upbeat, and energetic. At the end of their set Troy Andrews AKA: Trombone Shorty played a circular note, which is a note that is played continuously over multiple breaths by breathing in through your nose and blowing air out your mouth via your cheeks, on the trumpet for several minutes. Impressive.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings was my primary draw as she is always a treat. She took the stage, thinner and balder than last time I saw her, and I instantly knew her struggle with cancer was continuing. I can’t imagine having the strength to fight cancer all day and perform concerts all night, but at sixty she is an inspiration. There was moment in the first song when she had to excuse herself and stopped the music before signaling to the band to keep playing. She came back and apologized. After that she had no more obstacles to her performance and delivered a solid and entertaining set, although too short in my opinion, but such is life as an opening act. Especially at the Hollywood Bowl, which has a strict curfew, and in my opinion is never loud enough.

Hall and Oats came out and went right into “Maneater”. I love it when a band plays my favorite song of theirs first, it takes the pressure of fearing they’ll play it when you have to run to the restroom or get a refill, or most often, both. Their music was relatively soft in its prime, and seems very soft rock by modern standards. To me it was more a nostalgia concert, but it was great hearing “Private Eyes”, “I Can’t Go For That”, and “Out of Touch”. They played a great rendition of The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”, in which they seamlessly swapped the lyrics of the second verse with the first verse of The Animals “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, but all to the rhythm and tune of “…That Loving Feeling”. Of course the cover song is the highlight of the show for me. Some of their biggest hits were noticeably missing from the performance, many fans were disappointed that “Rich Girl” and “Your Kiss Is on My List” were absent from the performance, but maybe they like to leave something

Cover Photo Credit by Stacey Cakes