Scott Tady: Grand Valley announces concerts; Beaver show got crowd dancing
It's February, so let's talk about outdoor concerts.
The Grand Valley Inn already announced its 2023 show schedule for the Fallston restaurant's outdoor tents.
"We are running a winter special through at least Valentine's Day ― buy two shows, get one free," general manager Joe Rubino said.
That's a $10 savings.
Dance-rock band Elmoz Fire starts the season April 1, followed by variety-rock band Rick K. Road Trip on April 14.
The remaining schedule:
May 6: Beatles Tribute
May 28: Dancing Queen
June 10: Mike Sugg as Toby Keith and Tom Davis as Garth Brooks
June 24: Casanova and The Divas
June 30: Elvis Tribute with Walt Sanders
July 15: The Eldorado Band with guest fiddle player John Parrendo
July 28: Motown and More with Dr. Zoot
Aug. 5: Pocket Change WV
Aug. 18: The Project Band
Sept.: 3 Ridgemont High
Sept. 16: Trixx '80s rock and pop
Sept.: 29 Jukebox
Oct. 6: Rick K. Road Trip
Oct. 21: The Double Take Band
Shows have a $10 cover charge to cover all costs of the performers.
Shows are weather permitting, with the tents heated when necessary.
Good start at the Station
One of the many things that makes Beaver Station concerts so cool is that you make friends with fellow music lovers in the pre-show cocktail hour, during intermission and after the performance, if you stay and mingle. But when the concert itself is underway, audience members focus entirely on the music.
It's not like a lot of bar gigs, or even some general admission concert venues I attend, where people in the crowd carry on conversations during the performance, treating the band on stage like background music.
For instance, the Beaver Station audience at Jan. 28's Joel Lindsey concert listened intently and cheered loudly, including a mid-song standing ovation for violin ace Bob Banerjee's solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." After a brief intermission, where spectators made acquaintanances and refilled their wine cups or grabbed another beer, the second set began with Lindsey and his rock band, The Boulevard of The Allies, whipping up a funky version of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" that sprung female spectators out of their chairs to dance. It was like a Courtney Cox takeover, Banerjee joked, when the ladies danced some more for a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in The Dark."
Lindsey expertly weaved five or so originals into the setlist, including premiere performances of "The World Will Heal in Time" and a week-old new single, "Broken Man." As we saw with the now Los Angeles-based neo-soul singer Sierra Sellers at her January 2020 Beaver Station show, the intimate setting and receptive audience proved to be a perfect test ground for Pittsburgh-based Lindsey's new material.
Since he's a London native, concertgoers could expect a batch of Beatles songs, Lindsey noted early, foreshadowing a stellar "In My Life" and rousing "Oh, Darling." The excellent band, rounded out by James Kurasch on bass and Gary Matassa Jr. on drums, covered The Rolling Stones, Mumford & Sons, Marvin Gaye and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" (with Lindsey evoking an American accent) and segued into blues standard "Sweet Home Chicago."
Ending with their traditional, loose and silly original "James The Cat," Lindsey and the band stuck around afterward to meet concertgoers.
There's just a friendly vibe to these Cabin Fever Music Series shows at the historic Beaver train station.
The next show in the series comes Feb. 25 with Holy Hers, an alt-blues/rock project by Tucker Muetzel of Ambridge. Tickets are at beaverstation.org and I hope to see you there.
Thee Sacred Souls sounded so good
OK, as soon as you're done reading this column, get to YouTube, Spotify, Bandcamp or whatever your favorite online music source is, and check out Thee Sacred Souls.
That's the oh-so-smooth San Diego trio ― influenced by '60s soul and '70s R&B grooves ― wrote an album's worth of brand-new love songs that resonate with audiences.
About 300 of us packed the Thunderbird Music Hall in Lawrenceville last week, to catch Thee Sacred Souls. I loved what I heard and saw, especially from frontman Josh Lane whose sweet-sounding voice, and embrace-love positivity earned ample cheers.
Bandmates Alex Garcia (drums) and Sal Samano (bass) kept out of the spotlight, allowing two female backup singers a place up front to harmonize next to Lane. A tour keyboardist added well-measured fills as Thee Sacred Souls played 2022 debut album songs like "Easier Said Than Done," "Lady Love" and "Trade of Hearts," for which Lane insisted the multicolored stage lights high above the stage all be turned to red to help set the mood.
To the warm textured music, Lane sang convincingly about true love's endurance, and our penchant for seeking second chances in relationships. For songs this pretty and delicate, I assumed he wouldn't move around much, but 40 minutes into the set, Lane did a lap through the audience while singing.
Thee Sacred Souls are very talented, but don't take my word for it, listen to what King Cool says.
While interviewing Donnie Iris for his upcoming 80th birthday concert at UPMC Events Center, I mentioned Thee Sacred Souls, knowing how much Beaver Valley's resident star likes '60s soul and R&B from his days with The Jaggerz. I texted Iris a link to Thee Sacred Souls' "Easier Said Than Done."
Five minutes later, he texted back "really good man!"
Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@timesonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Tady: Grand Valley announces concerts; Beaver show got crowd dancing
