Doobie Brothers Rock Ravinia With Nostalgic Performance!

As American as a 4th of July celebration and as durable as the American flag, Northern California’s Doobie Brothers enthusiastically graced the stage Tuesday evening at Ravinia’s packed house.

The Doobie Brothers 4-time Grammy winning core of Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and multi-instrumentalist John McFee harken back to their earliest days.

Interestingly, The Doobie Brothers took an unconventional route by bypassing the typical “greatest hits” approach to a summer tour that’s so typical of 70’s and 80’s bands and integrated numerous B cuts and even some of the more obscure material into their set lists.

Opening with the iconic “Jesus Is Just Alright,” Patrick, Tom, John and the rest the Doobie gang wowed the Ravinia faithful with their one of a kind harmonies. But instead of following that effort with another classic, The Doobie Brothers wove an unpredictable tapestry that was both melodic and often times unplugged.

Some of the more interesting selections included cuts like “Eyes of Silver,” “World Gone Crazy,” a romping cover of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Don’t Start Me Talkin,” which had the crowd dancing in their seats and a cool, unplugged version of “Snake Man.”

The crowd was tame for a Doobie Brothers show with Johnston encouraging the audience to participate. Perhaps it was the diversity of the audience’s demographics (a testament to both The Doobies popularity as well as Ravinia’s, as well as the unpredictable song selections.

Ironically enough, their fans went wild when The Doobie Brothers launched into “Takin’ It To The Streets,” one of their best selling commercial hits sung by a former singer not even present, Michael MacDonald.

When the band ripped into Long Train Runnin’ everyone was on their feet and it didn’t take Simmons and Johnston much to get the crowd singing with them.

Tuesday’s Ravinia audience was polite yet enthusiastic. Tom Johnston waxed poetically on several occasions about how much he loved Chicago much to the delight of their loyal fans.

Johnson’s crunchy guitar started off most of the classics, like “Rockin’ Down The Highway,” for instance, with Simmons and McFee following suit. Musically, The Doobie Brothers are as tight a band as you could ever enjoy, especially at Chicago’s best outdoor venue, Ravinia. What’s compelling about the Doobies is their dual/twin drummers Ed Toth and Tony Pia, who complimented one another throughout the evening, as well as their secret weapon, saxophonist Marc Russo, who always steals the show with his searing sax solo’s.

With bassist John Cowan chipping in on lead and backing vocals and Guy Allison killing it on keyboards, The Doobie Brothers once again proved that 46 year’s after the band was formed, they are still a formidable force to be reckoned with and beyond deserving of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame recognition.

Hopefully the band receives their long overdue honor while their core members are still alive and not posthumously.

Even B cuts like “South City Midnight Lady,” had the audience mesmerized. But The Doobies never disappoint, unveiling megabits like “Listen To The Music,” “Long Train Runnin’ (which alludes to The Illinois Central Train) and the venerable Kim Weston’s cover “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While).

Teasing their audience with a bluesy tribute to Chicago blues, The Doobies pulled out all harmonic stops by thrilling their fans with a Hall of Fame worthy version of “Blackwater,” that had the entire Ravinia Pavillion on their feet singing both the harmonies and ad libs during the famous “round” at the end of the song. Tom Johnston’s passion was evident throughout the entire show with cohort Pat Simmons belting out his classic power vocals.

John McFee is simply a master virtuoso, shredding his guitar at will, picking up the fiddle when necessary and blowing the crowd away on pedal steel guitar. McFee gets my MVP for his versatility and his wide grin that was ever-present during their performance.

Opening their encore with “China Grove,” The Doobie Brothers provided a super-satisfying concert performance that had everyone on both the lawn and Pavillion looking forward to their next visit to Ravinia Festival.

Opening act Lara Johnston, (that’s right, Doobie Tom Johnston’s daughter), provided an excellent start to a great evening at Ravinia. Lara is a star on the rise and it was evident that Tom was a proud Papa when he invited his daughter back to the stage to harmonize during The Doobies encore.