Ambrosia; World Cafe Live at The Queen Wilmington, DE 5/4/11

[jimmy19029]

This was my first trip to the brand new World Cafe Live in Wilmington, Delaware. I've previously been to the location in University City in Philly, which has been going strong for almost six years now, but this new venue just opened a month ago in Wilmington's Queen Theater, which, I hear, had been shuttered for fifty years. Very happy to see it reopen now as another concert facility.

Like the Philadelphia location, there are separate upstairs and downstairs venues. Ambrosia was playing in the downstairs one, which is mostly standing room only and does not have the balcony(like they do in Philly). But for this show, a handful of tables and chairs were brought out. But they were taken by the time I arrived, so I just stood against the bar in the rear.

Since Ambrosia started playing back here on the East Coast fifteen years ago, they usually draw about the same size of audience...a mix of thirty to forty fans and curiosity seekers. I'm very glad to see the small sizes of the audiences have not discouraged our boys from returning to play year after year and they always wow us with an enthusiastically played show.

The Cafe Live staff, from the ticket seller to the bartenders and waitresses were all very nice and accommodating and seemed to be enjoying their jobs.

Frank Viele & The Manhattan Project, in guitar duo formation tonight, were doing the opening honors and talked of a recent jam festival of bands where Ambrosia, known primarily for their pop ballads, blew many of the bands away with their awesome playing expertise.

Ambrosia came on around 8:23 with their usual opener "Nice Nice Very Nice" then segued right into a few numbers from their One Eighty album, "You're the Only Woman" and "Livin' On My Own". The latter was pulled out especially for a fan who had driven over 50 miles to see them(Usually that fan would be me....I was thrilled to see them book alot closer to my house this year!).

Hopes & Dreams is a number they introduced as a new song, though they've been playing it over ten years now. They just haven't gotten around to recording it. Heart to Heart was another of my faves I was glad to see in the set since it's not always performed.

And tonight we got two Beatles songs, "Oh Darling", sung by guitarist/keyboardist Rick Cowling, their newest member, and the usual "Magical Mystery Tour". Singer/bassist Joe Puerta told us all again of their recording the song for a weird movie project called All This and World War II......WW II footage set to covers of Beatles music(!). "Some movie exec must've woken up one morning with that idea in his head. But we got to meet Paul McCartney a few years back who told us..'Well, we had a hit with it first', Joe laughed. "True! But we think our version is BETTER"!

The group were joined onstage by their lawyer, Alan, who contributed sax to "You're the Only Woman" and "Biggest Part of Me"....their biggest hit outside of "How Much I Feel". These three, of course, received the biggest response from the crowd.

After finishing at 10, the guys, as always, were out within minutes to sign autographs and chat at the merchandise table. Instead of my usual CD or record album, I had them sign a World Cafe Live setlist that listed their food menu. They all got a kick out of that. I talked to guitarist Doug Jackson about catching him last year playing with Gary Wright and Doug, Joe, keyboardist Chris North and drummer Burleigh Drummond all talked about my seeing them in recent years at Sellersville Theater and how much they love playing there. And World Cafe Live has now become one of their new faves as they were all most impressed with it.

I also spoke to the new man, Rick Cowling, telling him I loved his voice and that he was a great addition to the band. Rick was a former player with Kenny Loggins and Joe had spotted him in a Beatles tribute act called The Threetles.

Setlist:

Nice Nice Very Nice
You're the Only Woman(You & I)
Livin' On My Own
And...
Somewhere I've Never Traveled
Heart to Heart
Kamikaze
Hopes & Dreams
How Much I Feel
Time Waits For No One
Oh Darling
I Just Can't Let Go
Holding On to Yesterday
Magical Mystery Tour
Biggest Part of Me

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