ROBERT LEBZELTERThis story ran in the Star Beacon HEAT section July 26, 2002
ROBERT LEBZELTERERIC BURDON lets the audience join in while performing in Niles last weekend. The English bluesman is busy touring and recently wrote a book about his life.
By ROBERT LEBZELTER
Special Sections Editor
NILES - It was a murky, smoky hole-in-the-wall
kind of place in the early 1960s.
The Ealing Jazz Club was operated by Alexis Korner, who in his
early 30s was best known for bringing rhythm and blues to England.
Among those who frequented his club, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton,
Brian Jones (who formed the Rolling Stones) and Eric Burdon and
his band, the Animals.
Short and skinny, Burdon was in his early 20s but looked 12.
These R&B enthusiasts took black American blues, re-recorded
it and sold it back to Americans. Blues scholar Bill Wyman, who
for three decades was bass player for the Stones, described it
as "taking coals to Newcastle," since Newcastle was
an English mining town.
How appropriate Burdon was actually born in Newcastle.
Over four decades, he has transformed himself, from being on the
forefront of the blues movement with the original Animals to the
San Francisco sound of Jimi Hendrix and the Doors to 70s funk
with War and songs like "Spill the Wine."
Over the past weekend, Burdon melded all of his influences into
a seamless concert in the parking lot of Cafaro Field here, within
eyeshot of the Eastwood Mall.
You read right, while Cafaro Field seats 10,000 and is home to
the Mahoning Valley Scrappers Class A baseball team, Burdon was
relegated to the parking lot during Autorama. Burdon and his New
Animals played Saturday night.
The stadium itself was being prepared for a Sunday Beach Boys
performance.
But for a mere $7, you got a chance to see a legend up close,
better than if he had performed in the stadium.
If playing in a parking lot disturbed the blues legend, he sure
didn't let it show.
No, he doesn't look 12 anymore, but at 61 he looks more like 48.
He enjoyed interacting with the audience, letting it sing "Please
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and other Burdon standards
with him.
Burdon played for more than 1 1/2 hours and looked like he would
have been happy to stay longer.
While some say his voice is less distinct than in his early days,
it was more than adequate. In fact, his best song, the anti-war
"Sky Pilot," his first encore, sounded better than the
original.
He played some new stuff and seemed touched that the crowd responded
so well. Even with a concert as long as this, he didn't play all
his hits. No "Bring It on Home to Me," no "Monterey."
That's not a negative. He can't play everything. It's just easier
to mention the songs he didn't do then all of the ones he did
do.
Oh, and it would have been nice if he would have done his cover
of the Stones' "Paint It Black," which he first performed
at Monterey during the classic 1967 festival.
Burdon and the original Animals were inducted in the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame in May. Over the years, he has played with everybody
from Paul Schaffer of David Letterman fame to Jon Bon Jovi, Brian
Auger and Doors guitarist Robby Krieger.
His new book, chronicling life on the road since 1962, is called
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."
Burdon has been a regular guest via telephone with Conneaut talk
show host Louie Free (weekdays,
7 to 10 a.m., WWOW 1360AM, www.wwowradio.net)
where his recorded promotion for the show is frequently played.
Burdon contemporaries the Rolling Stones are readying for a new
worldwide tour, with tickets costing up to $300. Still, Burdon
and his tight, new band quietly tours the nation's venues for
sometimes pocket change. He looks like he is still having fun
and is certainly attracting multiple generations of fans.
Visit Burdon on the web at www.ericburdon.com.