Medley brought his solo act to Buffalo/Niagara last Sunday. Bill’s son Tim (piano and musical director) and daughter McKenna (vocals) also are a part of this band. However, Bob Hatfield, the second half of the Righteous Brothers died of a heart attack back in 1993.
An intro with famous clips of the Righteous Brothers music, that featured appearances by Bill, were shown at the beginning of the set from the TV show “Cheers,” movies “Top Gun,” “The Last Boy Scout,” “Ghost,” “Dirty Dancing” and the “David Letterman Show. “ The first half of the set was extremely hit driven with “Rock and Roll Heaven,” “Soul and Inspiration,” “Unchained Melody,” and “Time of My Life” which were all played in order. Bill was energetic and very engaging and had plenty of humor to go around the entire night.
Throughout the entire set many references and dedications were made appropriately to his lost partner. He made a quip after doing “Unchained Melody” as he can never get to hit the high notes like Bobby and that maybe his pants were not as tight to aid him. He made ongoing jokes with a woman in the audience who requested a Paul Anka song. He and his daughter McKenna performed a duet on “Time of My Life’ but you can tell she wasn’t at her best and in fact, left the stage for a period of time. Bill kept the jokes flowing saying she wouldn’t get paid for a full show and mentioned to another band member to tell her mom about that. The absence of his daughter didn’t take away from the show at all as Bill improvised from the set list and added some songs that weren’t intended on being played like “Saddest Goodbye” and “Run to my Loving, Loving Arms.” She returned later but she only sang some sporadic background vocals.
Stories of playing on the first Beatles tour in Europe and sharing the stage with Elvis at the Hilton in Las Vegas during the 1970’s were shared.
Bill also shared his fondness of the blues at the end of his set by diving into certain cuts of other artists and doing medleys of each. The performance of his blues song “This Will Be the Last Time” was the highlight and stole the show. Guitarist Leonard Hanson also enjoyed a little of the spotlight on this song as well.
Bill’s voice might not be at age 71 where he would like it to be but it’s still good enough by far to keep touring and giving the fans a glimpse of yesteryear.
Set List:
A Song for You
Rock and Roll Heaven
Soul and Inspiration
Unchained Melody
Time of My Life
Saddest Goodbye
Run to my Loving Loving Arms
Little Latin Lupe Lu/My Babe (medley)
Koko Joe
Old Friend
I Can’t help Falling in Love with You
Got Me Hummin’
Damn Good Friend of Mine
This Will be the Last Time
Blueberry Hill (Fats Domino medley),Long Tall Sally (Little Richard medley), Jail House Rock (Elvis medley),Peggy Sue (Buddy Holly medley), Great Balls of Fire (Jerry Lee Lewis medley)
Brown Eyed Woman
You Lost that Lovin’ Feeling
We would like to thank Tony Astran from the Seneca Niagara Casino for allowing BackstageAxxess to review the show. Please stay tuned for an exclusive interview with Bill that was conducted right before the show.
