From the stage at Quakertown’s community amphitheater on Thursday, singer Bo Bice gave an explanation of his show with classic jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears.
“This catalog of music is really the star of the show,” Bice said. “We’re just the vessel. We’re as big a fan of this music as you are.”
It was a moment of honesty: None of the members of the current nine-member lineup of Blood Sweat & Tears is an original player – or even a player from the band’s late-1960s-early-1970s heyday. Its longest-serving member dates to 1987; Bice has been lead singer just four years.
But the current combo, indeed, has enough respect for the band’s music – and musical ability — to make a thoroughly entertaining night.
Throughout a 95-minute show, the group showed its talent on 16 songs that included nearly all the band’s hits.
And if Bice – best known as runner-up to Carrie Underwood on the fourth season of “American Idol” in 2005 – was guilty of sometimes too closely approximated original Blood, Sweat & Tears singer David Clayton-Thomas’ vocal style and sound, at least he was able to pull it off nicely.
That was the case on the opening “More and More,” the B-side to Blood, Sweat & Tears’ biggest hit, 1969’s “Spinning Wheel,” as Bice sang gruff and growly. He did the same later with his clipped delivery of the 1970 Top 40 hit “Go Down Gamblin’.”
Bice, 41, gave a performance that stood on its own. He had tons of confidence (he only occasionally got a little lounge-y, but it wasn’t out of place for the show or generally older crowd of perhaps 500) and the needed vocal ability. On the slower, more intense “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know,” he had a big ending note.
On the night’s first big hit – the Top 15 “Hi De Ho,” Bice sang a coda that focused on his voice to big applause.
But Bice was just as comfortable to share the spotlight. He frequently made band introductions or stepped away to let members take solos – he even left the stage during a nice keyboard run on “Surreptitious,” and another, as well as a four-minute drum solo on “Smiling Phases.”
Bice only once referenced his time on “Idol,” saying, “I was on some little show – I forget the name of it, ‘America’s Lost Talent.'” But he connected it to how his performance of “Spinning Wheel” on the show led to his gig with Blood, Sweat & Tears.
“My mom and dad told me, ‘You surround yourself with great people and they will always make you shine,” he said.
Ironically, Bice was better on a couple of covers. On Billie Holliday’s “God Bless The Child” (which the band covered in 1968) he was forceful, strong and soulful. And his best was Charlie Rich’s “Who Will the Next Fool Be,” on which – released from the Blood, Sweat & Tears sound, he wailed vocally.
The musicians also occasionally stepped outside the classic BS&T sound – such as a squeaking, screaming sax solo on “God Bless the Child” or a harder guitar riff on “Go Down Gamblin'” and a couple of other songs.
But the night was clearly that classic Blood, Sweat & Tears jazz-and-brass sound. The brassy bombast of both the band and Bice’s voice was so distinctive on “Almost Sorry That I Left You” that Bice afterward yelped, “Blood, Sweat & Tears!”
And only occasionally did that sound come off as dated: Perhaps on the ’70s-sounding “Lucretia MacEvil.
The harmonica introduction to the 1969 No. 2 hit “And When I Die” drew cheers, and the crowd clapped along. It’s a very good song, and the band clearly realized its importance and played it with conviction. But the fact that Bice made it a bit more of his own vocally actually made it better.
The band, of course, ended the main set with “Spinning Wheel,” which is a can’t-miss hit. And neither the band nor Bice did.
The encore started with a cover of The Ides of March hit “Vehicle” – a Blood, Sweat & Tears sound-alike song that showed how much influence the band had. (Earlier, you could distinctly hear the sound that influenced contemporaneous jazz-rockers Chicago on the BS&T debut single “I Can’t Quit Her.”)
Bice went to his southern-rock root for a strong cover of The Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider,” which he dedicated to the recently departed Gregg Allman and other late members of the band.
And Blood, Sweat & Tears closed with another of its biggest hits, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” with Bice dedicating it to fans who have followed the band for 50 years. (Next year marks the 50th anniversary of its debut disc.)
As Bice said, it’s the songs that have kept the crowds listening. But he and the current lineup did them justice.
The show was the first of Quakertown Amphitheatre’s first paid-ticket concert series. And despite Thursday’s oppressive heat and two short rain showers that delayed the concert’s start by 15 minutes, it was a nice night in the park. Temperatures were 79 at the concert’s start and a comfortable 73 at its end.
Next in the series are Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone with Gary Puckett and the Union Gap at 8 p.m. Aug. 24 and Chubby Checker with Charlie Thomas’ Drifters at 8 p.m. Sept. 7. Tickets, at $30-$60, are available at quakertown.eventbrite.com. For information, go to www.quakertown.org or call 215-536-5001, ext. 136.
Twitter @johnjmoser
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