Friday, January 23, 2015

Hippiefest Review For Big Takeover Magazine, 2007

Hippiefest
Atlanta, Georgia
August 2, 2007

Needless to say, the billing on this tour was pretty sweet. In one night, you get the Zombies, Turtles, Mountain, Felix Cavilere's Rascals, Mitch Ryder, Joey Molland of Badfinger, County Joe McDonald and Denny Laine. With every artist getting just three to five songs, and limited to just their "hits," the show wasn't the full-on extravaganza that some would've wished for. But for a slice of '60s pop and rock served to mainstream America, it went down better than a Time-Life CD compilation.

Highlights to the first half were Joey Molland, whose set was the first to bring the crowd to its feet, and Mitch Ryder, who can still scream like he did in the 1960s. After a set by Felix Calivere that was too long-winded for my tastes, but went over well with the audience, the Zombies breezed through an always excellent set of their best-known songs. The Turtles proved to be still a lot of fun, throwing out all of their hits with smiling gusto, while Mountain brought the show to a close that was lumbering, at best, but seemed to work for their fans.

The good to this bill was that I finally saw four or five that I've been wanting to see for years, all in one night. The distraction was that it all seemed too brief. Five songs of Felix Cavilere's jam-rock soul seemed to go on too long, while the Zombies came and left too fast. But if one has to choose between not enough of a good thing, and too much of something else, one should always leave them wanting more.
-Daniel Coston

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