Everyone ages, even the most influential of rock stars. With too many of these rock stars, aging means not realizing their abilities have gone the way of their youth and playing concerts when they should be relaxing on a beach, long-retired, with a fruity drink in hand. This isn’t the case for Ray Manzarek, keyboardist of The Doors, who played at the Doubletree Hotel Ballroom with Grammy-nominated slide guitarist Roy Rogers as part of the No Stinkin’ Service Charge Blues Series on Feb. 26.
Doors opened for the concert at 6:30 p.m. to a surprisingly small crowd, considering the magnitude of the evening’s performers. But by 7: 20 p.m., 20 minutes after the show was supposed to start, and when opening musician Joel Jacob began his set, the room had filled considerably, and with an interesting mix of old hippies and young hipsters.
Manzarek and Rogers started their show on a very odd note, or tune rather. The jazzy number had few lyrics, but those few lyrics were perhaps more curious than even the most psychedelic Doors song.
Before Manzarek started in on his “Presidential Boogie,” he joked about George W. Bush and Carl Rove dancing to a song. Over the music, he said “Look at that president go! Shake it, George!” Despite the bizarreness of this song, the music was good and well played and it set a fun tone for the rest of the concert.
The duo played several jazz and blues songs, but one stuck out more than others. Manzarek sang about having the Bakersfield blues. “Good place, good people, good sun, but that Kern River keeps suckin’ ’em up!” This song was a bit unexpected from a serious rock star, but maybe Manzarek has gotten a little silly in his old age.
Many of the songs were instrumentals, and although they were enjoyable, it was the weird songs and Manzarek’s constant joking that kept the concert from becoming boring.
Even better, Manzarek didn’t hide or shun the band and music that made him famous. So many musicians from famous bands will try to distance themselves from their past in hopes of being recognized solely as an individual, even though the audience knows very well who they are.
Manzarek fully embraced his identity as a member of The Doors, telling several stories of his time with the band, like their infamous appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” where the band ignored producers’ requests to censor the lyrics in “Light My Fire.”
He answered questions from the fans, and also mentioned that his favorite part of being in The Doors was walking on the beach with front-man Jim Morrison, talking about philosophy. “Fortunately, we were doing lots of acid at the time!” he added.
Manzarek and Rogers also played Doors’ favorites, “Love Me Two Times,” “Crystal Ship” and “Riders on the Storm.”
Throughout the concert, the songs were played masterfully. Manzarek is still the keyboard king he proved himself to be 40 years ago, and Rogers showed why he has been nominated for two Grammy awards.
Unfortunately, the sound system didn’t quite do the music justice, giving a low but constant buzz during the entire concert.
If focused on the music and the experience enough, the buzzing was easily ignored, but it still kept the concert from being as good as it could have been.