LIVE: DENNIS LOCORRIERE presents DR HOOK Timeless Tour, Perth, 18 Oct 2015

Shane | 21 October 2015 | Reply

LIVE: DENNIS LOCORRIERE presents DR HOOK Timeless Tour, Perth, 18 Oct 2015

Crown Theatre, Perth – Sunday, 18 October, 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

As far as guilty ‘70s pleasures go, Dr Hook’s West Coast easy listening, soft rock vibes are right up there with ‘em, and after some years of focussing more on his solo works, Dennis Locorriere – the original voice of the band – has finally embraced his older material as well.

He bounds on stage blasting peals of harmonica for Walk Right In, getting the crowd onside from the word go as he leaps and dances around, before launching into one favourite after another.

I Don’t Wanna Be Alone Tonight, Sharing The Night Together, solo track If I Had A Nickel, More Like The Movies and A Couple More Years follow in quick succession, the gregarious and friendly Locorriere telling stories about the band, their early writer Shel Silverstein, and his own life all the while. Like a seasoned pro he quickly makes it feel like he’s playing in our living room, rather than a full theatre.

The Heat is a lesser-known organ-drenched rocker, Only Sixteen is accompanied by the story of the BBC not letting him play the song to air last year because of the youth of the protagonists, and he delights in asking the audience to tweet requests for the second half as he struggles to embrace new technology, before the jaunty The Millionaire and a near-ragtime You Make My Pants Wanna Get Up And Dance lead us into the break.

Locorriere delivers Wild Colonial Boy solo to start the second half – repeating his own performance for charity on Channel Seven’s Telethon the previous night – and then it’s into the real classics from the Dr Hook canon.

Sylvia’s Mother is sung by pretty much everyone, and leaves a trail of tears in its wake, before Cover Of The Rolling Stone – the tongue-in-cheek salute to rock n’ roll decadence and fame – makes the room whoop and holler with joy.

Dr Hook: The Disco Years were addressed with a near medley covering Better Luck Next Time Baby, Sexy Eyes and When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman: all tracks which he admits were deliberately written to stay on the radio after their early bankruptcy.

The six-piece band never miss a trick, with a great version of The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan, another wonderful Silverstein song which was later made famous by Marianne Faithful. Locorriere delivers a very cool harmonica solo here, and again bounds about the stage, dancing and jumping back and forth, as sprightly as a far-younger dude.

Who If Not You, I’m Gonna Love You A Little Bit More and Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk (another trip back to the thankfully less politically correct ‘70s) are the icing on the cake for everyone present before the band finish up with Loving You Years From Now.

Completely down to earth as he signed CDs and took photos with a very long queue of well-wishers after the show, Dennis Locorriere is the real deal and delivered an immensely entertaining show.