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Hippiefest

At the Molson Amphitheatre

In Toronto on Wednesday

by Alan Niester

The Name

First off, as much as I love the concept of a bunch of sixties bands playing the summer shed circuit, I take issue with the term "Hippiefest." Looking over the list of performers (Mountain, Badfinger, the Rascals, the Turtles, the Zombies, Mitch Ryder and Country Joe McDonald), only the latter could really lay claim to the term hippie. McDonald's Country Joe and the Fish truly was one of the pioneering psychedelic outfits, and McDonald himself performed at Woodstock - justification enough for inclusion in the Hippie Hall of Fame. The rest? Well, the Zombies were first-generation British Invasion, predating Hippie-ism by two or three years. The Rascals were successful American Brit Invasion copycats, Badfinger were seventies Beatle wannabes, Mountain pioneered heavy metal and so on. This isn't so much a Hippiefest as an up-dated version of The T.A.M.I. Show - a handful of hit-makers revisiting the songs that made them famous.

They came

But as a marketing ploy, it's brilliant. Clearly aimed at aging Baby Boomers who still remember the words to virtually every song performed here, Hippiefest drew a slew of greying groupies and one-time long hairs who never threw away their vinyl. The kids' tuition may be due, their mothers may or may not remember their names, and the driveway needs repaving. But for a brief three hours Wednesday night, all of that got swept away, and the future once again looked so bright that we all needed to wear our cool shades. And while it's true that veteran rockers like Neil Young and the Rolling Stones can still draw younger audiences, that wasn't so much the case here. These were the forgotten heroes that the younger generations never really picked up on, but who once upon a time had made their marks nonetheless.

The fame

Almost every song performed on this night was a top-10 hit, although odd circumstance sometimes changed the sound. As noted by M.C. Country Joe McDonald, guitarist Joey Molland was the last surviving member of Badfinger. But his broad Liverpudlian accent gave an abrasive edge to power-pop classics like Day After Day and Come and Get It. Mitch Ryder barely seemed to have the energy to shake his tambourine, yet alone supply the vocal power necessary for Jenny Take a Ride and Devil With a Blue Dress. And Rascal Felix Cavaliere was in great voice, but spent too much time revisiting Motown classics at the expense of his own songs. No It's a Beautiful Morning? Shock! Travesty! Best act of the night was undoubtedly the Zombies, with singer Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent in fit and fighting form on She's Not There, Tell Her No and Argent's Hold Your Head Up, a trio of songs that earned them the night's first and foremost standing ovation.

The dames

Oddly enough, there weren't any. Not a single female graced the stage all night long.

The shame

The Turtles had an incredible 10 Top-10 hits in the sixties. Wednesday, we heard truncated versions of only half of them (Happy Together, Elenore, It Ain't Me Babe, She'd Rather Be With Me and You Baby.) We would have had more were it not for the fact that the band spent half of its already short set (hey, they were all short) revisiting their post-Turtles career as singers in Frank Zappa's band. Really, guys, 200 Motels was not the epitome of Zappa's career, and nobody really cares any more that principal Turtles Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman were once in the band. Skip Peaches and Regalia, give us You Know What I Mean, you know what I mean?

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