Huey Lewis
LINCOLN, CA – Huey Lewis and the News performed before a packed house at Thunder Valley Casino Resort on Saturday.
Lewis is currently touring the country in celebration of the 30 year anniversary of their iconic ‘Sports’ album which included mega-hits such as “I Want New Drug,” “The Heart of Rock and Roll” and “Heart and Soul.”
Selling over 10 million records, ‘Sports’ went on to place second only to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ in 1984.
In their usual style, the band stormed the stage while a booming heartbeat played in the background. As the crowd cheered, Lewis arrived onstage singing “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” followed by “Heart and Soul.”
Johnny Colla
The 64-year-old Lewis weaved his way through the entire ‘Sports’ album as the older audience members sang along.
As he finished side one of the album, he explained to the younger members of the audience, that you had to actually flip the vinyl record over, referring to the original format of the album. However, fans can now get their hands on the ‘Sports 30th Anniversary Edition.‘ The anniversary edition includes re-mastered versions and a second disc with unreleased live versions of the songs.
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Huey Lewis and the horn section
“We aimed every song on ‘Sports’ to be a hit, so in that sense it’s really a collection of singles,” Lewis told USA Today in an interview, “They were for commercial radio, because that was the only way to success in those days, just before the real boom of MTV. We made no apologies about that mission, and we’re very proud of it in retrospect.”
Original band members on the album were Sean Hopper (keyboards), Bill Gibson (drums), Johnny Colla (sax), Mario Cipollina (bass) and Chris Hayes (guitar).
Performing at Thunder Valley were original members Lewis, Colla, Gibson and Hopper along with John Pierce (bass), Stef Burns (guitar), Marvin McFadden (trumpet) and Rob Sudduth (tenor sax).
Cocktail waitress helps out Lewis
There were a few songs that were not familiar to some audience members, so when Lewis completed the album and started playing some of their more recent songs (26-year-old songs and newer), the crowd came to life.
Traditionally Lewis and The News perform a few songs a cappella, but they disappointed on this night as the ‘Sports’ album dominated the performance.
Lewis’ gravelly voice has gotten better with age. There were a couple of songs where he struggled to hit the higher registers, but it didn’t matter – it was Huey Lewis.
Photos: Randy Miramontez
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