Gary U.S. Bonds 'Comes Home' to Tanner Park

Gary U.S. Bonds rocked his hometown crowd night at , closing out the varied and rollicking this year.

The proud Wheatley Heights native, who’s singing and songwriting career began more than 50 years ago, treated the audience to classic songs like Rendezvous and This Little Girl Is Mine.

Surrounded by his long-time band The Road House Rockers, and backed on vocals by his wife and daughter – Laurie Anderson and Laurie Anderson, Jr. – Bonds clearly felt and sounded at home on the Tanner stage.

After an opening crowd-pleaser from the band, led by New Jersey rocker Mark Leimbach, the Long Island Music Hall of Fame inductee took to the stage with a rousing version of Jole Blon from the classic 1981 album Dedication.

Then Bonds pulled out New Orleans, a top 10 hit for him from 1960. The crowd enthusiastically sang along when he led them in a chant of the song’s infectious “I said a-hey-ey-ey-ey yeah” refrain.

The band weaved seamlessly between Bonds’ earlier chart hits like School Is Out and Dear Lady Twist and the Bonds/Springsteen collaborations of the 80s like This Little Girl Is Mine and Out of Work. The set also included the unreleased ballad Caught in a 50s Kind of Mood, as well as tunes from Bonds’ most recent studio album, Back in 20.

Bonds also took a backseat as his wife and daughter took turns leading the band through versions of The Shirelles’ Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? and The Crystals’ Da Do Run Run.

The legendary rocker, with the help of sax player Dan Cipriano, paid tribute to his old friend Clarence Clemons with a touching version of Steve Van Zandt’s Daddy’s Come Home.

Bonds gave a shout-out to his many Wheatley Heights friends and neighbors who’d come to the show, and congratulated the Long Island Music Hall of Fame and Museum for having recently received the keys to its future home in .

Bonds recounted the joke between him and Joel during his induction ceremony a few years ago: “They inducted me back in 2006. I sat next to Billy Joel at the ceremony! In fact, he turned to me at one point and said … ‘And you are?’”

Anecdotes like that and his spot-on Johnny Mathis impersonation punctuated the crowd-pleasing show on .

And by the time Bonds closed the Babylon -provided show, and , at with Quarter to Three, following by a rollicking encore of Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode, it was clear Gary U.S. Bonds shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Editor’s Note: Watch for a gallery for a look at the show’s .