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NRBQ live at The Doug Fir Lounge in Portland this Friday (tomorrow)!

For those living in or near Portland Oregon, NRBQ will be performing live at The Doug Fir Lounge on Burnside this Friday, with another cool band---The Minus 5---opening. 

I haven't seen and heard NRBQ live since their heyday in the 80's/90's (twice at The Roxy Theater on Sunset Blvd. One of the handful of best bands I've ever seen and heard live.), and founder/keyboardist/songwriter/singer Terry Adams is the sole remaining original member. Drummer Tom Ardolino died in 2012, and bassist/songwriter/singer Joey Spaminato (picked by Keith Richards for the band he assembled to back Chuck Berry in the live performance seen in the documentary Keith made on Chuck:  Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll. Keith offered Joey the bass chair in The Stones when Bill Wyman resigned the band; Joey turned him down!) was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, and has been battling it ever since. Guitarist/songwriter/singer Al Anderson left the band in 1993 to concentrate on songwriting, moving to Nashville.

If you are also attending the show, come up and say "Hey". You can't miss me: I'll be the 6' tall guy with real long salt & pepper hair (now more salt than pepper ;-) .

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deadhead1000's avatar
deadhead1000
714 posts
 

Love NRBQ! Saw them many times in the 70's and 80's on the East Coast in small venues. At Yankee Stadium was my favorite. Won't be able to make it, but hope they get asked for requests....

bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,821 posts
 

@deadhead1000: Ha, good one! "We Take Requests", an inside joke. Terry Adams is one of the very few Rockers who cites Thelonius Monk and Sun Ra as major influences. His clavinet playing live is the most physical act on stage I’ve ever witnessed! Makes Keith Moon seem reserved ;-) .

bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,821 posts
 

Well fellas, it was a HELL of a show!

Though Terry Adams is the sole remaining original member (playing electric piano, clavichord, and organ, singing, and banging on various percussion instruments), the band sounded almost exactly the same as they did in the early/mid-90's, the last time I saw them live! Terry is obviously the hub of the NRBQ wheel. The club was packed, and the band got a very enthusiastic response from the audience, who demanded two encores.

They played a full two hour set, the opening band The Minus 5---a deliberately Garage-style band (if you know what I mean ;-) ---an hour. The best 25 bucks I've ever spent! The couple I was standing next to (the club moved the tables off the floor for this rockin' show) had driven to Portland from Boise Idaho, and people were singing along with the chorus on a number of songs. I do believe NRBQ has a dedicated cult-level audience, as well as peer admirers, whose members include Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, John Hiatt, Richard Thompson, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, and Elvis Costello. And you? ;-)

And oh yeah, on the road with the two bands, and joining both for parts of each bands sets, was Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, blowing baritone and bass sax. Awesome! If NRBQ are coming to your area, if I were you I'd go see 'em. It may change your life!

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