Concert review: The mullets and mustaches are gone, but Hall & Oates’ hits remain

SALT LAKE CITY — “The song is king.”

That’s what my older brother, a more seasoned musician than I, once told me during my teenage years.

I was in a band then. As most bands do, we struggled to balance our individual desires and really put the music first. Everyone wants to shine. But in a band, not everyone can shine all the time. The song is king.

That comment stuck with me. The sentiment, it seems, has stuck with Daryl Hall and John Oates (a.k.a. Hall & Oates) too.

The iconic pop-rock duo headlined Vivint Arena on Tuesday night. For a band that had such a silly and over-the-top aesthetic in its heyday, somehow those visuals didn’t speak louder than the songs themselves — and you know, that’s really saying something about the songs. The mullets and mustaches are gone, but all the incredible songs remain.

It’s been more than 40 years since Hall & Oates’ first of many hits. And, as expected, Tuesday evening was packed with them. Of the set’s 16 songs, nearly all have remained bona fide radio mainstays — “Maneater” and “Sara Smile” and “Private Eyes” and on and on. The night's only detours were the 1974 deep cut “Is It A Star” (wonderful), the new Hall & Oates/Train collaboration “Philly Forget Me Not” (unfortunate) and Train’s “Calling All Angels,” when the duo was joined by Train lead singer Patrick Monahan (a crime against music itself).

About Train: The band has been opening for Hall & Oates on the current tour. That’s as much as I’ll say about Train. They aren’t worth the time it takes to type this sentence.

Honestly, the show didn’t quite sustain its energy — Oates looks ready to complete an Ironman; Hall seems a bit more feeble — but hey, you try playing 90 minutes of hit songs when you’re 70 years old.

I’ve always viewed Hall & Oates' catalog as two separate entities: the 1970s and the 1980s. The former, more organic and classically soulful; the latter giving way to synths and electronic drum kits. (When it comes to their music, I love both eras equally.) These days, the band fashions both eras of its catalog to the sound of the '70s, which makes sense in a live, full-band setting.

It also helps audiences more fully understand Hall & Oates’ craftsmanship as songwriters and overall musicians. Yes, the drum kits and sax solos are great, but ultimately that’s just peripheral stuff. What matters are the songs. And the songs are packed with incredible details both big and small, all working toward pure pop bliss.

For me, there was no more blissful moment than the climax of 1973’s “She’s Gone” — a song that Hall said “sort of brought us into existence.” Hall & Oates have pulled some pretty bold musical tricks in their day, but perhaps none bolder than on this one: For 15 seconds at the song's apex, the music jumps to a higher key three consecutive times before exploding into the final chorus.

As that moment hit and I basked in the warm harmonies washing over me, it was a celebration of everything that makes Hall & Oates who they are: unquestionably sappy; unrelentingly, unrepentantly sincere; utterly genius. These songs are king.

Set list:

• “Maneater”
• “Out of Touch”
• “Did It In A Minute”
• “Say It Isn’t So”
• “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”
• “She’s Gone”
• “Sara Smile”
• “Is It A Star”
• “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”
• “Philly Forget Me Not”
• “Wait for Me”
• “Calling All Angels” (Train)
• “Kiss On My List”
• “Private Eyes”

Encore:

• “Rich Girl”
• “You Make My Dreams”