By Mike McKenney, New England Correspondent
Venue: East Greenwich, Rhode Island-Friday August 10, 2018
The Bacon Brothers greeted the full house at the Greenwich Odeum with a timely cover of The Rascals hit “People Gotta Be Free”. The band consisting of brothers Michael Bacon (vocals, guitar and cello) and Kevin Bacon (vocals, guitar and percussion) along with the band that’s been playing with them since the beginning, Paul Guzzone (bass, backing vocals), Joe Mennonna (keyboards, accordion), Ira Siegel (lead guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Frank Vilardi (drums), performed a mix of songs cultivated from their eight albums.
Spanning over 20 of touring and recording, The Bacon Brothers music is a combination of rock, folk, punctuated by a Philly soul sound to create an interesting collection of Americana. The multi-talented brothers, Kevin, his acting career of more than 30 years that include over 80 films, dozens of television credits and numerous Emmy nominations, is expectedly, very at ease on stage, chatting and joking with the audience between songs. Older brother Michael is an Emmy-winning composer, an award winning film and television scorer, and a Professor at Lehman College. His cello solo on “interlude” was stellar.
For all their Hollywood success, The Bacon Brothers are not about glitz and glamour. Their stage is sparse with standard house lighting, and devoid of any celebrity trappings. They do have a large screen behind them that they use to augment the music. While playing new single “Broken Glass”, the lights are dimmed to help the audience focus on the music and the story being portrayed on the large screen (featuring Kevin’s daughter, Sosie). Kevin’s wife of 30 years, actress Kyra Sedgwick, sings on “I Feel You”. They display admiration for the late Tom Petty on “Don’t Do Me Like That” and “Tom Petty T-Shirt”.
The band was on point all night and seemed to be having fun, smiling and joking around. Kevin mentioned his love of boat towns and they we able to get out and enjoy some of the East Greenwich harbor earlier. Speaking with Keyboardist Joe Mennonna briefly before the show, he mentioned how much he loved the Greenwich Odeum and the surrounding area.
Kevin said how busy everyone is and how hard it is to get everyone’s schedules lined up to be able to go out on the road, so take advantage of this tour as it rolls on this summer, it could be a while before they tour again.
Set List
* People Got to Be Free (The Rascals cover)
* Driver
* Don’t Lose Me Boy
* So Cal Smooth
* Tom Petty T-Shirt
* Broken Glass
* Interlude (Cello Solo)
* 493 Miles
* A Road We Know
* Bus
* Whole Lotta Shade
* 36 Cents
* I Feel You
* Perfect Pitch
* Beneath Perfection
* Two Rivers
* Old Guitars
Encore:
* Don’t Do Me Like That
(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover)
* Live With the Lie
Photo Gallery
Mike McKenney is an award winning professional photographer and current New England Correspondent for Rock At Night magazine.
With his years of experience and passion for Concert Photography, Mike has photographed many of the famous acts in the world today.
Rock Icons such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews, and Fleetwood Mac along with Country artist Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney,and Jason Aldean have all appeared before Mike’s camera.
"My goal is always to present the experience truthfully so fans can feel the energy and emotions the Artists convey. It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility to be allowed to create art while blending my two passions, music and photography”
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