The Doors in Morelia Light My Fire

Tere and I just got back from seeing The Doors perform at Morelia's Palacio del
Arte with original players Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger. I wish I had known
in time to tell everyone they were coming but had heard last week they had
already played here and I missed them. Wrong! But I found out they were coming
tonight and I had about two hours to get ready and get there.

It was a great show, I only waited about 40 years to see them. When they were
first coming on the scene in the 60's I was about 14 years-old and by the time I
was old enough to have ticket money and could go to see them Jim Morrison had
already died. Seeing Manzarek and Krieger perform was great. Robbie still had
his stuff and is a kick-butt guitar player. I'm glad they were able to drop in
on Morelia.

Remarkable! How was the "new" lead singer? Tough to imagine the Doors without the unique voice of Jim Morrison. I hope the group immersed itself in the Doors' classic catalg than trying to reinvent itself with a new catalog, as all too many resurfacing acts have tried.

gschell9 wrote:

Remarkable! How was the "new" lead singer? Tough to imagine the Doors without the unique voice of Jim Morrison. I hope the group immersed itself in the Doors' classic catalg than trying to reinvent itself with a new catalog, as all too many resurfacing acts have tried.

It was hard to imagine there would ever be a time when The Doors could possibly exist and flourish without Jim Morrison. Of course the band will never again produce the kind of material it did in the 60's it's remaining original members will always be welcome in smaller venues these days to reproduce their familiar sound and perform for a mixed audience of teenagers through retirees who turn out to listen to and pay homage to these Rock icons and their historic and still very popular songs.

In just over four months, July 3rd, it will be 40 years since the death of Jim. We miss him dearly but after the passage of time we can appreciate the work and appearance of the remaining band members whenever and wherever they wish to perform. Last night Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robbie Krieger were recreating the highly original sound that we are so familiar with. That there was a somewhat different voice we must accept that as we do the passage of time as it is doubtful if Morrison were still here with us he would sound as fresh as he did 40 years ago. On the other hand, Manzarek and Krieger still had their style from those days and perhaps sounded more polished than many live recordings I listened to from ages past. Certainly something in the size of the crowds and some of the excitement of their heyday concerts was lost but it was indeed an authentic performance from those old hands. I knew I was listening to and watching the Doors perform.

They didn't play any new songs from any of their solo projects or even those that were released without Jim, no Other Voices songs and strictly from their popular catalog, though pleasantly deviating from simply radio days Top 40 selections, rather playing from their very own top 40 Doors tunes. They played for about two hours and performed some of my favorite of their tunes including a very touching and emotional Blue Sunday.

They opened their show with Roadhouse Blues then Break On Through then finished with a two-song encore of Riders on the Storm and lastly an extended version of Light My Fire. I won't recall all at once so won't attempt to list all their performance but for me some of the highlights were Not to Touch the Earth, Touch me, Love Me Two Times, Strange Days, When the Music's Over, Back Door Man, LA Woman and much, much more that will come to mind and I will kick myself for not mentioning here. Of course their catalog is so extensive there is no way they could have played every one of our favorites. It is somewhat doubtful if any band would have the stamina to play a catalog that extensive, especially that we are speaking of 72 year-old Ray Manzarek and his somewhat youthful co-performer, 65 year-old Robbie Krieger.

I believe it was Ian Astbury from The Cult singing Jim's songs, though I would not swear that was him but I believe that is who performs with them now. All in all he gave a very good performance. It was not Jim but who is? I commend him though, it would take some steel-belted fortitude to step forward to try to fill-in those shoes. I think he did a great job.

Not to be outdone by Morelia, we had the pleasure of attending an outdoor concert at the Rio Grande Zoo here in Albuquerque with Leon Russell performing. This "OKIE"icon has been performing for 50 years and put on a great concert! He was just inducted into the R & R Hall of Fame this year and recently did an album with Elton John. Every old hippie for miles around came out from under their rock for this concert One of the most amazing things about the concert was that not a whiff of wacky since the City of Albuquerque enacted a no smoke policy on their property about a year ago. As a smoker, I found it easy not to be inclined to light up.

Slideshow: https://picasaweb.google.com/Chinagringo/LEONRUSSELLCONCERT?authkey=Gv1sRgCN_7kY7N7aeBnAE#slideshow/5606604673985474018

Got that national blue bird of India in the photos. If on an audio recording they could be heard above the music. Loudest animal in the zoos. HA-RAWK, HA-RAWK!! Nice bit of crowd control building a moat around the stage, almost out of throwing distance too.

Certainly familiar with his name but I have never seen him perform. Not sure what his songs are either.

Some friends of mine met him backstage at someone else's concert once, don't recall whose. This was after the death of Hendrix and Joplin but possibly before Morrison, he was talking about who would be next. LR's prediction was Joe Cocker. Nope, but that was always a memory I had from their recount. In '82 I was working security at the US Festival while still a college student, a 29 year-old college student at a JC. I was smoking a joint with Dennis Wilson who was dating Christine McVie at that time and there for her performance with Fleetwood Mac - they were the last act of the 3-day concert and literally stole the show. I always liked Mac but until then never realized just how powerful they were, dynamite. I didn't recognize him at first because he had shaved his beard. Dennis' days were numbered then and wasn't much more than a year later he was gone, just a couple weeks after his 39th birthday. "Accidental" drowning.

When attending college in Denver, I was lucky enough to attend Joplin and Hendrix concerts. Hendrix performed at Red Rocks Amphitheater and one of his classic guitar catching on fire performances happened. Leon was part of the original Joe Cocker Mad Dogs an Englishmen Tour and has performed and written songs with such greats as Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson, Glenn Campbell, Doris Day, etc. A real pro in that his scheduled start was 7:30 and he was playing at that point and carried on for an hour and a half.

In the mid70's, I happened to be in Austin, TX over Labor Day weekend on business. My very connected customer was tied into Willie Nelson's Labor Day Concert since they provided security. Long story short, I spent three days backstage with all of the bands. On the Tuesday following, we went out for lunch with Fleetwood Mac. I sat directly across from Stevie Nix and couldn't get a word out!

cheenagringo wrote:

...we went out for lunch with Fleetwood Mac. I sat directly across from Stevie Nix and couldn't get a word out!

Was she jabbering that much, or were there other reasons? Fleetwood Mac is one of the all-time best bands, certainly high-up on most any list like that.

No Peter, it was the visual and that very sexy raspy voice!