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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, October 26, 2003

CONCERT REVIEW
Rock 'N' Roll Supershow almost perfect

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Everybody who paid to see Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard converge at the Blaisdell Arena for last night's Rock 'N' Roll Supershow knew that they were getting the rock 'n' roll equivalent of a superpower summit.

Berry is the guy, after all, credited by many with practically inventing the genre. Little Richard will tell you flat out that he was rock 'n' roll's architect. And Jerry Lee Lewis remains the original rock 'n' roll enfant terrible from which all others have since sprung.

Still, the question most often heard while eavesdropping on pre-show conversations was could this rock 'n' roll Mount Rushmore still rock?

Most fans likely would've argued that it was worth the price of admission just to bask in the presence of rock 'n' roll's founding fathers. The rarity, these days, of the trio's performances on the same bill also bought ticketholders to last night's Supershow an opportunity to be a part of rock 'n' roll history.

But did Lewis, Little Richard and Berry — ages 68, 70 and 77, respectively — still have the goods to tear up a concert stage?

Well, as the prophet Meat Loaf once wrote, two out of three ain't bad.

Jerry Lee Lewis strolled confidently out on stage to screams of, "You go Jerry Lee!" looking fit and darn handsome as ever in a sharp-looking suit that was all black right down to choice of tie. With his hair slicked back, a mean snarl on his face and sitting as regal as a lion, he looked the part of an old man you did not want to tangle with in a street fight.

Letting down his guard with a sly grin, he immediately tore into the rollicking opening piano of "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee." And for the next 50 minutes, the Blaisdell Arena was in The Killer's all-powerful control.

Lewis was mostly happy just sitting at his piano showing off his still amazing capibilities at the keys. He didn't set his piano on fire or leap on top of it, but he did play the devil out of it. In fact, the one thing you could say about Lewis without doubt is that he still looked about as genuinely happy as ever to be performing for an appreciative audience.

"I'm 68 years old and I'm never getting married again," he informed the crowd early on, joking about his recent sixth divorce. When someone in the crowd offered him a lei, he chided, "What do you wanna put that thing around?" before accepting several more and tinkling "Aloha Oe" on his piano.

His sly-humored banter between hits often came out in an indecipherable mumble, but his vocal chops, at least, were right on the money.

Lewis's performance featured a few too many of his country-western hits mid-show for comfort. But The Killer redeemed himself later in the set with strong-voiced takes of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls Of Fire, complete with piano pounding and sweeps of fabulous piano tinkling. A bluesy, honky-tonk version of "Over The Rainbow" was a highlight that managed to bring even more sparkle to Lewis's crinkly eyes.

At the finale of "Fire," his hair mussed and his brow soaked with hard-earned sweat, Lewis stood up hard, kicked his piano stool behind him, and assaulted the piano keys with his posterior. After that, he was gone leaving his competent four-piece band to clean up the stage.

Little Richard arrived minutes later with an amazing hour-long performance that was part spiritual revival, part well-oiled Las Vegas lounge show, and, hands down, the best individual performance of the three rock icons.

Entering to a standing ovation and loud cheers — which he made sure to drink in on all ends of the stage — Little Richard climbed on top of his piano for a even more, his arms outstretched and his smile wide. Little Richard's wickedly energetic eight-piece show band had already worked the crowd into a frenzy so all the man really needed to do was finally sit down at the keys and scream out the opening line, "Good golly, Miss Molly!" to get his props.

Decked out in a white sequined jacket with matching shoes, and a black turtleneck with matching slacks, Little Richard went on to prove he still had the stuff to move an entire arena. When he wasn't at his piano, he was prowling the stage throwing down fiery-voxed versions of just about his entire repertoire, and then some.

God bless Little Richard, he simply did not have it in him to give the audience anything it couldn't get up and move to. And so out came amazingly-voiced versions of "Lucille," "Bama Lama Bama Loo," "Keep A Knockin'" and "Tutti Frutti" complete with throaty yells and howls of "Whoo!" Each song ended the same way — with Little Richard center stage, arms outstretched, soaking in the well-deserved applause.

Little Richard's trademark wit was also wonderfully intact.

"I was washin' dishes at the Macon bus station," he said at the beginning of a story detailing the genesis of "Tutti Frutti." "I was the only Jew in there." The audience began laughing hard.

"Shut up!" said Richard, his signature retort cracking the audience up even more, before finishing with, "Well, I was the prettiest Jew in there."

After about 75 minutes of unbridled and unpredictable showmanship, Little Richard just about had to be pulled from the stage by his bodyguards rather than leave voluntarily. The end of his performance still had him furiously shimmying across the stage to "Jenny Jenny" and "It's Only Rock And Roll (But I Like It)," all the while throwing out posters of himself to the crowd.

With Little Richard offering such a towering a performance, it was hardly surprising when a 20 minute intermission was called before Chuck Berry's set. Sadly, the break could have hardly prepared the crowd for the disappointment to come.

In recent years, Berry has sadly earned a reputation for sometimes phoning-in his live performances rather than actually trying to turn in something inspiring. Too cheap to travel with a regular band of his own, Berry totes only his cherry red Gibson from town to town, hiring pick-up bands to play with and often taking the stage with zero rehearsal time.

Last night arrived with all of the above and a poor sound mix to boot.

Berry's hourlong performance was an unmitigated rock 'n' roll disaster from the moment he took the stage, taking five full minutes to work out sound problems and explain his modus operandi to the befuddled band. After that, the band struggled to keep up with what the enigmatic Berry would do with each song.

It was a testament to Berry's enduring legacy that he managed to keep the crowd with him through sloppy versions of "Roll Over Beethoven," "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Oh Carol." Dressed in a red sequined shirt and black slacks with a sea captain's cap perched on his head, Berry was energetic, cocky and in fine voice even when his guitar playing was more lazy than sparkling.

Late in the show, "Rock And Roll Music" and "Johnny B. Goode" displayed some of the old Berry guitar chops and vocals as well as his trademark duckwalk. But it was hardly enough to keep many in the crowd from rushing to the exits long before Berry was through performing.

When Berry began scolding his bassist and piano player before showing them how to play his songs his way while the audience waited and the drummer kept a backbeat, you knew there would be no redemption. When Berry walked off stage soon after with his Gibson slung on his back to a smattering of applause, it was more a relief than anything else.

It could be argued that Berry's pickup band was never all that versed on the Berry repertoire, and the feedback loaded sound mix was just plain awful throughout his performance. But the fact was Berry was just plain lazy and thoroughly unprofessional, and the crowd knew it.

"I'm gonna make up for it next time," said Berry before leaving.

I'd be happy if Berry just rehearsed and dropped by with a band of his own next time.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.