Gary Wright; Sellersville Theater 1894 4/14/10
Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 5:55 amA nice treat to see Mr. Wright again since he doesn't tour as frequently as he used to. Last saw him ten years ago at the Earth Day Fest in Fairmount Park in Philly.
The Dirk Quinn Band did the opening honors. Dirk is a jazz fusion style guitarist in the Pat Metheny vein and also threw in a cover of Pink Floyd's Great Gig in the Sky for us prog rock enthusiasts.
Gary's set jumped around to all points in his career, from the hits to all the way back to his days with late 60s/early 70s English progressive rockers Spooky Tooth. He even debuted several new songs as well.
Gary, who grew up in New Jersey, told us of meeting Island Records founder Chris Blackwell in Germany in 1966. Chris was associated with producer Jimmy Miller who was an old friend of Gary's. Both Blackwell and Miller suggested to Gary that he come to England in 1967. He did so and was teamed up with a four man outfit called Art, who changed their name to Spooky Tooth at Gary's suggestion. "We were a good band but never a big one", Gary explained. "But several of our members went on to bigger things...like Mick Jones with Foreigner, Luther Grosvenor with Mott the Hoople, Greg Ridley in Humble Pie..."
His new album, Connected, he said, is due out in June.
Loved hearing his band recreate all the sounds and feel of his albums, right down to the clavinet and Moog bass sounds. And he was one of the first to strap a keyboard around his neck and play it that way. His portable keyboard emits those high pitched synth solos & melody lines that were Gary Wright signatures on the radio back in the 70s.
Besides his long time bandmates, Leon Bisquera(keyboards, synths) and Sergio Gonzales(drums, percussion), his current lineup has Ambrosia veterans Shem Von Shroeck and Doug Jackson, who handled the synth bass/special effects and guitar parts respectively.
Gary told the story of the inspiration for Dream Weaver. He became pretty close friends with George Harrison after playing on his All Things Must Pass album and all his subsequent records. He and George traveled to India in 1974 where Gary read an Indian book, The Autobiography of a Yogi, that contained the line weaving dreams. Gary was then inspired to write the song.
Loved the show! The high points for me were 1981's Really Wanna Know You, Are You Weeping(from his classic Light of Smiles release in 1977) and Spooky Tooth's Better By You Better Than Me(Gary laughed that people always ask him why he covers a Judas Priest song, not suspecting that he was the one who wrote it).
When he came out to say hello and sign our CDs & albums after the show, I asked what had happened to him after 1981. He'd had a big hit that year with Really Wanna Know You and I was then fully poised for concerts and more records.....but then he seemed to disappear....for seven years....until I finally saw a new album. He explained that he had begun to concentrate more on film scoring during that era.
Setlist:
Wrong Time
No One Does It Better
Really Wanna Know You
Keep Love In Your Soul
Gimme Some Time
Better By You Better Than Me
Get Your Hands Up
Feel For Me
Love Is Alive
Satisfy
Are You Weeping
Encores:
Dream Weaver
I Can't Find The Judge
The Dirk Quinn Band did the opening honors. Dirk is a jazz fusion style guitarist in the Pat Metheny vein and also threw in a cover of Pink Floyd's Great Gig in the Sky for us prog rock enthusiasts.
Gary's set jumped around to all points in his career, from the hits to all the way back to his days with late 60s/early 70s English progressive rockers Spooky Tooth. He even debuted several new songs as well.
Gary, who grew up in New Jersey, told us of meeting Island Records founder Chris Blackwell in Germany in 1966. Chris was associated with producer Jimmy Miller who was an old friend of Gary's. Both Blackwell and Miller suggested to Gary that he come to England in 1967. He did so and was teamed up with a four man outfit called Art, who changed their name to Spooky Tooth at Gary's suggestion. "We were a good band but never a big one", Gary explained. "But several of our members went on to bigger things...like Mick Jones with Foreigner, Luther Grosvenor with Mott the Hoople, Greg Ridley in Humble Pie..."
His new album, Connected, he said, is due out in June.
Loved hearing his band recreate all the sounds and feel of his albums, right down to the clavinet and Moog bass sounds. And he was one of the first to strap a keyboard around his neck and play it that way. His portable keyboard emits those high pitched synth solos & melody lines that were Gary Wright signatures on the radio back in the 70s.
Besides his long time bandmates, Leon Bisquera(keyboards, synths) and Sergio Gonzales(drums, percussion), his current lineup has Ambrosia veterans Shem Von Shroeck and Doug Jackson, who handled the synth bass/special effects and guitar parts respectively.
Gary told the story of the inspiration for Dream Weaver. He became pretty close friends with George Harrison after playing on his All Things Must Pass album and all his subsequent records. He and George traveled to India in 1974 where Gary read an Indian book, The Autobiography of a Yogi, that contained the line weaving dreams. Gary was then inspired to write the song.
Loved the show! The high points for me were 1981's Really Wanna Know You, Are You Weeping(from his classic Light of Smiles release in 1977) and Spooky Tooth's Better By You Better Than Me(Gary laughed that people always ask him why he covers a Judas Priest song, not suspecting that he was the one who wrote it).
When he came out to say hello and sign our CDs & albums after the show, I asked what had happened to him after 1981. He'd had a big hit that year with Really Wanna Know You and I was then fully poised for concerts and more records.....but then he seemed to disappear....for seven years....until I finally saw a new album. He explained that he had begun to concentrate more on film scoring during that era.
Setlist:
Wrong Time
No One Does It Better
Really Wanna Know You
Keep Love In Your Soul
Gimme Some Time
Better By You Better Than Me
Get Your Hands Up
Feel For Me
Love Is Alive
Satisfy
Are You Weeping
Encores:
Dream Weaver
I Can't Find The Judge