JLL alive and rockin!

Jerry lee Lewis is alive and rocking better than ever!

Onderstaand bericht, niet door een fan maar door een journalist geschreven bewijst dat maar weer.

Mocht dit report U niet overtuigen, er zijn er nog veel meer!

Posted on: Sunday, October 26, 2003

CONCERT REVIEW
Rock 'N' Roll Supershow almost perfect

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Everybody who paid to see Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little
Richard converge at the Blaisdell Arena for last night's Rock 'N'
Roll Supershow knew that they were getting the rock 'n' roll
equivalent of a superpower summit.

Berry is the guy, after all, credited by many with practically
inventing the genre. Little Richard will tell you flat out that he
was rock 'n' roll's architect. And Jerry Lee Lewis remains the
original rock 'n' roll enfant terrible from which all others have
since sprung.

Still, the question most often heard while eavesdropping on pre-show
conversations was could this rock 'n' roll Mount Rushmore still rock?

Most fans likely would've argued that it was worth the price of
admission just to bask in the presence of rock 'n' roll's founding
fathers. The rarity, these days, of the trio's performances on the
same bill also bought ticketholders to last night's Supershow an
opportunity to be a part of rock 'n' roll history.

But did Lewis, Little Richard and Berry — ages 68, 70 and 77,
respectively — still have the goods to tear up a concert stage?

Well, as the prophet Meat Loaf once wrote, two out of three ain't
bad.

Jerry Lee Lewis strolled confidently out on stage to screams of, "You
go Jerry Lee!" looking fit and darn handsome as ever in a sharp-
looking suit that was all black right down to choice of tie. With his
hair slicked back, a mean snarl on his face and sitting as regal as a
lion, he looked the part of an old man you did not want to tangle
with in a street fight.

Letting down his guard with a sly grin, he immediately tore into the
rollicking opening piano of "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee." And for
the next 50 minutes, the Blaisdell Arena was in The Killer's all-
powerful control.

Lewis was mostly happy just sitting at his piano showing off his
still amazing capibilities at the keys. He didn't set his piano on
fire or leap on top of it, but he did play the devil out of it. In
fact, the one thing you could say about Lewis without doubt is that
he still looked about as genuinely happy as ever to be performing for
an appreciative audience.

"I'm 68 years old and I'm never getting married again," he informed
the crowd early on, joking about his recent sixth divorce. When
someone in the crowd offered him a lei, he chided, "What do you wanna
put that thing around?" before accepting several more and
tinkling "Aloha Oe" on his piano.

His sly-humored banter between hits often came out in an
indecipherable mumble, but his vocal chops, at least, were right on
the money.

Lewis's performance featured a few too many of his country-western
hits mid-show for comfort. But The Killer redeemed himself later in
the set with strong-voiced takes of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"
and "Great Balls Of Fire, complete with piano pounding and sweeps of
fabulous piano tinkling. A bluesy, honky-tonk version of "Over The
Rainbow" was a highlight that managed to bring even more sparkle to
Lewis's crinkly eyes.

At the finale of "Fire," his hair mussed and his brow soaked with
hard-earned sweat, Lewis stood up hard, kicked his piano stool behind
him, and assaulted the piano keys with his posterior. After that, he
was gone leaving his competent four-piece band to clean up the stage.

Little Richard arrived minutes later with an amazing hour-long
performance that was part spiritual revival, part well-oiled Las
Vegas lounge show, and, hands down, the best individual performance
of the three rock icons.

Entering to a standing ovation and loud cheers — which he made sure
to drink in on all ends of the stage — Little Richard climbed on top
of his piano for a even more, his arms outstretched and his smile
wide. Little Richard's wickedly energetic eight-piece show band had
already worked the crowd into a frenzy so all the man really needed
to do was finally sit down at the keys and scream out the opening
line, "Good golly, Miss Molly!" to get his props.

Decked out in a white sequined jacket with matching shoes, and a
black turtleneck with matching slacks, Little Richard went on to
prove he still had the stuff to move an entire arena. When he wasn't
at his piano, he was prowling the stage throwing down fiery-voxed
versions of just about his entire repertoire, and then some.

God bless Little Richard, he simply did not have it in him to give
the audience anything it couldn't get up and move to. And so out came
amazingly-voiced versions of "Lucille," "Bama Lama Bama Loo," "Keep A
Knockin'" and "Tutti Frutti" complete with throaty yells and howls
of "Whoo!" Each song ended the same way — with Little Richard center
stage, arms outstretched, soaking in the well-deserved applause.

Little Richard's trademark wit was also wonderfully intact.

"I was washin' dishes at the Macon bus station," he said at the
beginning of a story detailing the genesis of "Tutti Frutti." "I was
the only Jew in there." The audience began laughing hard.

"Shut up!" said Richard, his signature retort cracking the audience
up even more, before finishing with, "Well, I was the prettiest Jew
in there."

After about 75 minutes of unbridled and unpredictable showmanship,
Little Richard just about had to be pulled from the stage by his
bodyguards rather than leave voluntarily. The end of his performance
still had him furiously shimmying across the stage to "Jenny Jenny"
and "It's Only Rock And Roll (But I Like It)," all the while throwing
out posters of himself to the crowd.

With Little Richard offering such a towering a performance, it was
hardly surprising when a 20 minute intermission was called before
Chuck Berry's set. Sadly, the break could have hardly prepared the
crowd for the disappointment to come.

In recent years, Berry has sadly earned a reputation for sometimes
phoning-in his live performances rather than actually trying to turn
in something inspiring. Too cheap to travel with a regular band of
his own, Berry totes only his cherry red Gibson from town to town,
hiring pick-up bands to play with and often taking the stage with
zero rehearsal time.

Last night arrived with all of the above and a poor sound mix to
boot.

Berry's hourlong performance was an unmitigated rock 'n' roll
disaster from the moment he took the stage, taking five full minutes
to work out sound problems and explain his modus operandi to the
befuddled band. After that, the band struggled to keep up with what
the enigmatic Berry would do with each song.

It was a testament to Berry's enduring legacy that he managed to keep
the crowd with him through sloppy versions of "Roll Over
Beethoven," "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Oh Carol." Dressed in a red
sequined shirt and black slacks with a sea captain's cap perched on
his head, Berry was energetic, cocky and in fine voice even when his
guitar playing was more lazy than sparkling.

Late in the show, "Rock And Roll Music" and "Johnny B. Goode"
displayed some of the old Berry guitar chops and vocals as well as
his trademark duckwalk. But it was hardly enough to keep many in the
crowd from rushing to the exits long before Berry was through
performing.

When Berry began scolding his bassist and piano player before showing
them how to play his songs his way while the audience waited and the
drummer kept a backbeat, you knew there would be no redemption. When
Berry walked off stage soon after with his Gibson slung on his back
to a smattering of applause, it was more a relief than anything else.

It could be argued that Berry's pickup band was never all that versed
on the Berry repertoire, and the feedback loaded sound mix was just
plain awful throughout his performance. But the fact was Berry was
just plain lazy and thoroughly unprofessional, and the crowd knew it.

"I'm gonna make up for it next time," said Berry before leaving.

I'd be happy if Berry just rehearsed and dropped by with a band of
his own next time.