As soon as the brotherhood was in sight, several thousand believers begged to be converted right away!
Although "Jesus Is Just Alright with me" was only the Doobie Brothers' third tune, the I'm-here-to-have-a-good-time crowd at ParkWest didn't waste a minute and got up from their seats merely upon seeing the veteran rock 'n' rollers arrive on stage.Nobody held a grudge against the Doobies as they started off with "Dangerous," their latest hit from the 1991 "Brotherhood" album. Even longtime, die-hard fans who donned "Doobie Brothers 1982 Farewell Tour" shirts immediately got on their feet as an enthusiastic and incredibly energetic 1991 version of the Doobie Brothers began a two-hour stage show that let most people forget what year it was.
Keep in mind the five original Doobies who appeared on stage Saturday played together back in 1971, and they were also responsible for many famous Doobie Brothers tunes, such as the second song, "Rockin' Down the Highway."
Playing their guitars with wireless remote transmitters, Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston were able to stroll all over the stage and go places where no one has gone before, kind of. Seriously, the Doobies appeared with a certain kind of "naturalness" that eliminated notions of arrogance and super-stardom completely - perhaps that explains the Brothers part of their name.
Johnston is the guy who wrote such Doobies hits as "China Grove," "Listen To The Music" and "Without Love" - they played them all, too. His voice is easily recognizable and, although most of his compositions are on the harder side of rock 'n' roll, is kind to listerners' ears.
Before coming to ParkWest, Johnston told Deseret News that he and the other Doobies are going to stay in show biz as long as they can do three things: Sell records, have a good time on stage together and be able to excite crowds. If that's all, they still have a few more years before retiring for good.
Of course, one thing the Doobies know is that in order to keep and gain fans, they'll have to keep playing their old tunes, too. So they did. Giving the audience what it wanted, the Doobies did a version of "Blackwater" that even without violins sounded darn good - allowing the crowd to do most of the singing themselves.
Most likely, concertgoers wondered two things Saturday: Why are there eight Doobie Brothers on stage, and how come they didn't play such tunes as "Takin' It To The Streets" and "Minute By Minute"? The original Doobies were Tom Johnston, guitar, vocals; Pat Simmons, guitar, vocals; Tiran Porter, bass, vocals; John Hartman, drums, percussion; and Michael Hossack, drums. But in order to make the live sound even fuller, Z-93's Red Rocker Chris Haggin, who "partied" with the Doobies afterward, told me they were backed up by three studio musicians: Dale Ockerman, keyboards (he also co-wrote "This Train I'm On" with Simmons on "Brotherhood"); Jimi Fox, percussion; and Richard Bryant, back-up vocals.
The reason they didn't perform "Takin' It To The Streets" and so forth is because those songs were written by ex-Doobie Michael McDonald and belong to the appropriately called Michael McDonald era (which lasted from about 1976 until the band's break-up in 1982).