went to see the doobie brothers on wednesday evening at niagara fallsview casino.

i've seen them twice before, once at three rivers stadium w/ chicago and lynyrd skynyrd and at blossom music center w/ heart.

not a bad show, but your typical casino concert of exactly 90 minutes. they played for 70 minutes, walked off for 3 minutes and came back to do 3 encores finishing at precisely 10:00pm ( began at precisely 8:30pm)

the band is now patrick simmons and tom johnston's although long time members john mcfee and michael hossack are both there. if i recall correctly only simmons has been around for the duration, as johnston left when mcdonald came on, mcfee joined around the 5th or 6th album and hossack has come and gone over the years.

interestingly they played only 1 song that involved michael mcdonald, and that was not "what a fool believes" but "takin to the streets". the bass player, skylark, did the mcdonald vocals quite capably, which left me wondering why they didn't do a couple more mcdonald tunes.

there are 8 members in the band, simmons, johnston, mcfee, hossack, skylark, keyboardist guy ellison (allison) sax player marc russo (from the yellowjackets) and another drummer whose name escapes me.

they played some odd songs considering the short show, one each from the last 3 albums and even a tune from a new album simmons says is coming out in january. it was called "back to the chateau", and wasn't too bad.

musically and vocally they were very good (5 singers!), i just wish these casinos would the bands play a little longer. in the right place i would probably go see them again for a full show.

renny

I've seen the Doobies several times since moving to the southeast. They usually put on a great show. Not only one of the first bands I really got into they are one of the first bands I can actually remember. As a kid I could sing "Oh Black Water" before I could sing "Old MacDonald."

Wish I could have been there! I had a chance to see the reunited Doobie Brothers in Tokyo, but was stupid enough to pass on the chance. I did see Patrick Simmons in the street in Tokyo by chance, but I didn't speak to him. I also saw Pete Townshend once in Soho in London, again I didn't speak to him, either. I thought there would be plenty more opportunities to see the Doobie Brothers, but it wasn't to be. It is true that Tom Johnston left the band for a while, so only Patrick Simmons has been in it for the duration, then.

Skylark the bass player REALLY gets on my nerves. I've got the Wolf Trap DVD, and I just cant stand his stage presencse.
Does anyone know what Tiran Porter is up to these days?...


Jeff

I like that they do songs originally sung by people no longer in the band. You shouldn't have to cut a great number that the whole band had a hand in just because one guy quits.

Beleive it or not, Porter plays in a Beatles tribute band these days.

Johnston left at the time due to illness from what I remember and Michael McDonald took over until he was well again.