Huey Lewis and the News on Long Island

If I didn't mention it (and I didn't), I saw Huey Lewis and the News for the 11th time last week.  The free concert, in East Meadow, NY, was, er, sort of seen and heard by me, Sean (his first concert!), the Mighty Mick, and Gretchen the Great.

It was a great night.  The weather was wonderful.  I was with people I truly love.  We had a nice dinner.  We all had fun.

But.

Well, this is what happens with a free concert.  If you weren't in the park and claimed a spot by, say, 5:00, you were pretty much out of luck, in terms of seeing the show.  We sat at the top of the hill, but couldn't see the stage.  The music was audible, but not strong.

The band, of course, was awesome.  Nothing different there.

Knowing that a large crowd would be looking to get out, we actually left early.

I know, I know.  I never leave early.  Well, I rarely leave early.  But I also know how the show ends.  In fact, I knew the setlist.

Long story short, the idea of making Sean and my friends sit in crazy traffic because I wanted to see the end of the show made no sense.  Instead, we were out within about 20 minutes, and it was worth it.

But don't think that the concert was a bust.  Oh, geez, hardly.

First, selfishly, I finally saw the boys on the Sports Tour.  But I missed them in '84, and saw them on the Live in '85 Tour.  Now, granted, this was the 30th anniversary tour, but this T-shirt still made me smile. 

Oh yeah, and I was in the men's room when the show started.  This was unlike any HLN show I had ever been to.  It was more like a Huey Lewis picnic!  People were walking in with pizzas.  They had little tables set up.  Drinks?  Yeah, nobody was stopping that either.  But, still, who better to picnic with than Huey, Johnny, Bill, Sean, JP, James, Marvin, Rob, and Johnnie?

Sean and I grabbed a look at the stage during "The Heart of Rock and Roll."

Huey's to the right of the drums, playing the harmonica.

The setlist, you ask?  Let's start by doing the Sports album in order (from "The Heart of Rock and Roll" to "Honky Tonk Blues"):

1) The Heart of Rock and Roll
2) Heart and Soul
3) Bad is Bad
4) I Want a New Drug
5) Walking on a Thin Line
6) Finally Found a Home
7) If This is It
8) You Crack Me Up
9) Honky Tonk Blues
10) While We're Young (a new song...love hearing new HLN)
11) Trouble in Paradise (still sounds great, from the first album, but the version from '85 at the old Kabuki Theatre in San Francisco still kicks ass).
12) Some Kind of Wonderful
13) But It's Alright
14) We're Not Here For a Long Time, We're Here for a Good Time (to end the main set)
15) The Power of Love (they've done it every night for 28 years! In fact, it's the first song I ever heard them play live - in Middletown, NY).
16) Do You Believe in Love
17) Workin' for a Livin'

We left as "Do You Believe in Love" was being played.  It just made sense to get out.  Had we been closer, I would have stayed and dealt with the traffic.  The sound wasn't great, and we couldn't see.  Plus people were talking, etc.  But, hey, it was free, so who can complain?  But in this case, it was logical to go, have dinner, and head for home.

In case you think I'm crazy, this was our view of the stage...

Keep in mind, this is while the show is going on.  I overheard a few people say that this was more people than they expected.  I'd have to agree.  WCBS-FM (101.1) promoted the heck out of the show, and Long Island (and Putnam County) responded!

At least we had fun...

I grabbed Sean's hand during "We're Not Here For a Long Time..." and took him for a better view.  We stood there as they got ready for the "encore" and I knew what was coming.  "The Power of Love" kicked in and Sean was dancing.

If you need any validation of this being a great night, you now have it.

Trust me, this made it all worth it. (Excuse the quality of the video - I should have just converted it to audio only, but you get the sense of how Sean and I were rocking out).


Cool.  Very cool.

So, really, I can't complain.  It was all good.

And, with any luck, the boys will be back again.