BRUCE HORNSBY, CARRIE RODRIGUEZ, Red Butte Garden, Sunday
Bruce Hornsby threw an almost perfect late summer party for a sold-out Red Butte Garden crowd Sunday night.
From the opening piano licks of "Country Doctor," Hornsby established that there would be little opportunity for the audience to sit, and he even joked that people were invited to dance in their seats. Surprisingly, the crowd — which seemed heavily skewed toward Hornsby devotees who spent plenty of time warming up for the show — barely stood until the sun went down, when almost everyone got on their feet.
Not that the seated audience slowed Hornsby down, and if anything, it seemed to inspire him. With very little break from the opening song, he whipped through a frenzied "Circus on the Moon" and into "King of the Hill," which featured a lengthy piano solo and expanded into an almost seven-minute, funk-infused jam fest.
But it was only when he launched into the zydeco bounce of "Big Stick" that the crowd truly embraced Hornsby and almost rose in unison. From that point on, fans never sat and never stopped dancing, even when he slowed down the music.
The latter part of the show featured many of the highlights, even if they were not necessarily the surprises. As expected, his biggest hit "The Way It Is" was astounding both for its familiarity and its freshness, especially when it went from a pop classic into a noise-drenched finale.
The best song of the night may have been the almost 10-minute "Fortunate Son," which seamlessly morphed into Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb." While that pairing of songs has become a concert staple for Hornsby, the combination never seems to grow stale.
And, of course, there was the almost immortal "Mandolin Rain." He actually played the song twice, in full during his main set, and then as a reprise to close out his second and final encore.
The only other real disappointments were an out-of-place, guitar-driven "Defenders of the Flag" and his surprisingly soulless take on Wilson Pickett's "I'm in Love." While Hornsby does not generally lack for soulful sounds and the Noisemakers are proven R&B maestros, the performance seemed flaccid and overwrought.
While Hornsby impressed with a professionalism and stage presence earned through 25-plus years as a musician, opener Carrie Rodriguez showed that she could very well have the same kind of longevity. Playing songs from her debut album, "Seven Angels on a Bicycle," she grabbed the somewhat stubborn crowd's attention with excellent musicianship and a beautiful voice.
E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com