Glen Starkey’s weekly column does a great service to all us local music lovers. However, to improve that service even more, I would like to suggest he check recent set lists before plugging an upcoming local concert from an established star.
In Glen’s blurb for the Doobie Brothers’ Aug. 22 concert at Vina Robles, he named 10 of their biggest hits. The trouble is, co-lead singer Michael McDonald left the group eons ago, so they haven’t performed many of those classics (“Minute By Minute,” “Dependin’ On You”) in decades. Likewise, with his David Crosby lead item back in April. Glen whetted everyone’s appetite with mentions of The Byrds and CSNY, indicating Crosby would mix new material with “his greatest hits.” A quick look at setlist.fm would’ve shown that Cros was barely touching his famous old songs, stuffing his sets with new material instead.
So again, I greatly appreciate all the promotion for live music that Strictly Starkey provides. It would just be great if a minute or two of additional research were done for the really big acts, so that we can better judge whether we want to lay out the going rate of $100 a ticket or whatever for these touring baby-boomer classic acts.
Pete Howard
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Aug 24 – Sep 3, 2017.