If you're looking for something to tell you that the band in question is composed of nearly notable former members of various bands, or how many jam sessions the drummer sat in on with rock superstars who are now dead or disabled or retired, forget it. Unless the names Mother's Milk, Middle Earth, or the Revolting Tones Revue ring any particular bells, where the people who make up this band called Boston came from is irrelevant to who and where they are now.

Listen to the record!

After writing about listening to Boston on BART the other day, I was surfing around the Boston website and found out that they were playing at the Concord Pavilion this last Friday. I decided to buy a ticket and go.

First, let me say that Boston's debut album is simply one of the best pieces of music you'll ever listen to. It was the first rock and roll album I ever bought, back in my youth, and it's probably the only one I have purchased on multiple formats over time. It's coming up on 30 years old and it still rocks like nothing else.

The concert was interesting. Like any major 1970's band, the fans are, well, getting more respectable. The number of minivans in the parking lot at the venue was shocking. The people in front of me were well-past my age and had brought their teenage kids with them. The dad was rocking out. I couldn't really tell what the kids thought. Walking in, I saw a couple of guys wearing the high quality Java-logo jackets that they must have sold one year at JavaOne or something. Silicon Valley always has that blend of rockers and geeks at something like this. I suppose I fell into the clean-cut geek category.

All that said, the show was great. They played just about everything in their collection, including most of the debut album and Don't Look Back. All the good stuff from Third Stage got done. Imagine being there with a few thousand people singing and doing the syncopated claps from Feelin' Satisfied. Walk On (the song) was nice and definitely rocked. They closed up with Smokin'.

The band composition has changed over the years. Tom Scholz is of course still the main man, playing guitar and organ like a madman. Brad Delp was sharing singing honors with Anthony Cosmo. Delp has got to have one of the best falsettos in rock-n-roll, but he's aging and I don't think he can hit the high notes that he used to back in 1976. Cosmo does a great job and the two work through the numbers with Delp providing the old sound and Cosmo nailing the high notes that Delp can't hit.

In short...

Listen to the record!