Live Review: Huey Lewis and The News 8/15/13 Coney Island, NY

Huey Lewis and The News

8/15/13 Coney Island, NY

The free summer Seaside Concert series in Coney Island saw 80's heroes Huey Lewis and The News brighten the stage as the ocean wind swept in and fans delighted in the mid August night air. The night started off on a rough note though as there was no opening act and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz decided to take over the microphone and introduce his democratic friends who are in the process of running for office. Markowitz was bland, dull and frequently had conversations with people who were not mic'ed up creating an odd scene by the water, this would have been bearable had it not gone on for over an hour and a half as it stands Marty was the worst opening act possible.

At 8:30 the proper show thankfully started with the heartbeat kick drum of "Heart of Rock n' Roll". Huey Lewis and The News are currently touring for the 30th anniversary of their seminal album Sports, playing it in it's entirety every night. Lewis himself seems to be in fine shape and his voice is comparable to what it was when the band had it's heyday, strong yet still raspy. "I Want A New Drug" had a bumping bass line, tight brass section and sweaty guitar solo from Stef Burns.

Midway through Lewis talked about flipping over the record, before dedicating "Walking On A Thin Line" to all of America's veterans. The doo-wop light of "If This Is It" had the crowd swaying before the groups cover of Hank Williams "Honky Tonk Blues" ended the Sports section of the show.

The band played a brand new song ("While We Are Young") before playing the first song they wrote ("Trouble In Paradise") a nice way to transition to some of their other hits. Their cover of "Some Kind Of Wonderful" really found the crowd getting loose with a whole back section dancing up a storm as Lewis asked for a witness from the stage. The groups best song kicked off the encore as "Power of Love" rang out strong and true before closing the night with "Working For A Living" which ended the hour and half show.

In Robert Christgau's original review of Sports he wrote: "the man's an utter cornball, but on this album I simply succumb to the stupid pleasures of his big fat rockcraft." There is a lot of truth in that and today the band is still tight where it needs to be and gets loose when it wants to, remaining cheesy in a good way, here's hoping they keep spreading the news.
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We mentioned this show last week and told of our love for Huey, it was a great show, and had the setup been better (no food or beer vendors?!!?) we would have probably liked the night more, but that has nothing to do with the band. All in all Lewis and Crew put on a good show and it is worth checking him out, you will be glad you did.

Here are some videos from the show taken by nycejp
"I Want A New Drug"
 
"If This Is It"