John Oates reflects on 50-year career before headlining Indy music festival with Daryl Hall
Fifty years ago this September, Daryl Hall and John Oates released their debut studio album “Whole Oats,” a collection of 11 soulful, soft-rock songs.
At the time, it made made little commercial impact. But 18 studio albums, six No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later, Hall and Oates are still touring and headlining music festivals — namely, All IN Music and Arts Festival this Labor Day weekend at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
“Well, I’m still alive, and I’m still making music,” Oates said in an August interview with IndyStar. “So, that’s a good thing.”
While the pop-rock duo’s latest studio album, “Home for Christmas,” was released in 2006, they have since played nearly 500 shows together. They last performed in Indiana in August 2021, when they played Ruoff Music Center.
Indianapolis has long been more than just another stop on tour for Oates. He said he has a lot of friends in the city, whom he prefers to hang out with rather than hole up in his hotel room when he comes to town.
“I go to Indiana quite frequently, believe it or not,” he said.
Oates is a self-described “car guy,” so he has been to the Indianapolis 500 several times. He said he was in the crowd when A. J. Foyt won his historic fourth race in 1977, the same year Hall and Oates received their first Billboard No. 1 with “Rich Girl.”
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He’s returning to Indy for All IN, a two-day festival in which Hall and Oates are top-billed on Saturday’s lineup among other acts like Death Cab for Cutie, Cage the Elephant and Portugal. The Man.
Oates said festivals stand apart from a tour or a one-off show for a lot of reasons, one of which being the opportunity to play in front of new people.
“When you play a festival,” Oates said, “you get a chance to perform in front of a lot of fans who might not necessarily be your fans.”
The veteran rocker also noted how festivals enable him, as an artist, to watch other performers. He said he likes every kind of music, from pop and Americana to blues and roots.
Hall and Oates’ own discography has run that gamut, with the auteurs releasing a wide variety of music of different genres, sounds and styles since their debut in 1972.
Since then, they’ve gone smooth and soulful with “Sara Smile,” toyed with upbeat, pop-rock on “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” and even played around with synths on “Out of Touch.”
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“We’ve created a legacy of songs that stand the test of time,” Oates said.
These songs still work their ways into Hall and Oates’ setlists. In the few shows they performed in 2021, they opened each with “Maneater,” which turns 40 this year.
“There’s nothing to substitute for playing live,” Oates said, “when you can get an immediate reaction from people.”
Despite the vast back catalog the duo has accrued over the last half-century, Oates said “She’s Gone,” which appeared on their 1973 sophomore album “Abandoned Luncheonette,” is still a standout to play live.
“Anytime you can play a song that's 50 years old and it still sounds fresh, that’s an amazing thing,” Oates said. “It’s something to be proud of.”
If you go: All IN Music and Arts Festival
All IN Music and Arts Festival runs Sept. 3-4, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, 1202 E. 38th St.
For more information on the lineup and tickets, visit allinfestival.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: John Oates talks Indy 500 memories, reflects on 50 years since debut
