Huey Lewis and The News At The State Theatre In New Brunswick

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“Is the Heart of Rock and Roll still beating?” Wendy from Roadside Wonders asked me via Twitter. (Click HERE if you would like to follow me) Well Wendy, the answer is a definitive YES. In what seemed like an impossible task, Huey Lewis and The News rocked the packed State Theatre in New Brunswick last night even while failing to play some crowd favorites.

The diverse audience who came out to see Huey Lewis and The News included older folks, young teenagers with their parents, and thirty-somethings who wanted to time travel back to their youth. But not everyone was bouncing around and dancing like I thought they would be. Sure everyone was clapping, but for some reason whenever I sit in a balcony section of a theater, no one ever wants to stand up and get crazy. Of course, the level of craziness is a lot more subdued at a Huey Lewis concert than in comparison to say…a Slayer concert. Moshing is basically non existent, except for the people in the middle rows just trying to get out for a pee break.

I’m spoiled because I’ve been to so many concerts where everyone is standing and losing their minds. From KISS, Motley Crue, and Bon Jovi to Prince and Lady GaGa, people are always standing, dancing, and acting nuts. The crowd wasn’t as loose for Huey Lewis and the News until they started pulling out some of their hits. After performing a few tracks from their 2010 album Soulsville, a tribute to the artists and music of Stax Records, the Lawrenceville NJ High School graduate said that he knew we were probably all getting worried that they weren’t going to play any hits. Everyone started to laugh and clap because they knew it was true. Huey then assured us they would definitely play the big hits.

In addition to cuts from Soulsville, Huey also threw in some deeper tracks from their hit albums, which I thought was cool, but since I had not experienced a Huey Lewis and the News live show I would have preferred hearing more of their popular singles. I wouldn’t have minded hearing more obscure tracks if I had previously saw them in concert a bunch of times.

Some of the big songs they eventually whipped out were “The Heart of Rock n Roll,” “I Want A New Drug,” and “Working For A Living” I knew “Back in Time” wasn’t an option since it’s mostly remembered by fans of Back to the Future. They did perform “Power of Love,” which Huey prefaced with the fact that back when they wrote and recorded the song he had no idea they would be playing that song at every show for the rest of their career.

During their encore Huey polled the audience to see what songs they wanted to hear. A bunch of people were yelling “If This Is It” including my Dad and a boisterous woman in front of me, but to no avail. I thought “Hip to Be Square” would’ve been a definite staple on the set list, but no such luck with that one either. He took a request from a guy in the first row who was begging for “Bad is Bad,” which wouldn’t have been my choice, but I was still cool nonetheless. For the several months leading up to the show all I wanted was to hear them perform “Pineapple Express,” one of their best songs in years. I must have been smoking some Super Red Espresso Snowflake because if Huey didn’t play one of their early hits “Do You Believe in Love,” he sure as hell wasn’t going to play a track that was only featured during the credits of a stoner movie starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.

An ashel after breakfast

Turning to more 80’s news…
Most of the local people have been to The Breakfast Club. It’s an 80’s club where the music that pumps usually leans toward the 90’s for some reason. I figured out a way to make this place way cooler – 1) Stop playing shit like the Counting Crows and Dave Matthews Band and 2) Make the dance floor tiles light up like in the Billie Jean video. Then the place would rock. You know what? If you really want to live in the 80’s for a few hours, skip the BC altogether and just watch American Psycho.

And now turning to the “I don’t care that I’m in my mid twenties and still watch professional wrestling…and if you ain’t down with that…I got 2 words for ya…SUCK IT” news
Finally the WWE is bringing back their original WWE magazine. I was damn sick of the seperate RAW, and Smackdown versions of the publication. Streamlining makes me happy. I don’t give a rats ass that Vince McMahon made up the word “ashel.” I personally think it’s one of the best words ever invented. In fact I’ve actually had 4 or 5 ashels already since I heard the word.

The latest in Jay’s morning Breakfast cereal news…
I’ve purchased EGGO waffle cereal…mainly because I could get the cool Pirates of the Caribbean SKULL STROBE. That sounds so badass. I think I gave my girlfriend the SKULL STROBE the other night. Anyway – the cereal is kind of disappointing. Not as Eggo waffley as I thought. Kinda reminds me of Honey Comb but with a maple syrup flava. I would stick to the Superman Crunch this month.

CORRECTION 6/30/06
I have to append my spelling of “Ashel”….Steve has just informed me that it would be spelled “Asscial” instead. I really don’t give a rat’s ass what he thinks but he’s probably right.