May 16, 2021 

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Ahhh, live music! 

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There's really nothing like it, and that's exactly what has been missing for the past fourteen months.

 

Live music returned to the BMI Center in Versailles, OH Saturday night when former Grand Funk Rail Road singer and guitarist, Mark Farner took the stage. 

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Backed by a crack three-piece band, Farner and company proceeded to plow through the Grand Funk hits and a few other gems.

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Kicking the show off with "We're An American Band" the crowd was on it's feet and were ready for a great rock and roll show.

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The spry seventy-two year old still knows how to command a stage.  He danced around while still showing off his best guitar hero poses when needed.

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Early in the show, Farner told the audience that he was "tired of all this bullshit" referencing the mask mandate and social distancing, while maintaining that "rock and roll was meant to be in your face" and shared with the audience.

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For over ninety minutes, that's exactly what the crowd got.

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"Rock and Roll Soul," "Foot Stompin' Music" and "Bad Time" all found their place early in the set. 

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The middle of the set had the hard core Grand Funk fans freaking out as they launched into "Take You Out,"  " I Come Tumblin'" and an extended version of "Heartbreaker."

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Toward the end of the set, Farner told the crowd "I hope you brought your dancin' shoes!" as they tore into "The Loco-Motion" and "Some Kind Of Wonderful."

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In a surprise, Farner and company then played a song that according to Farner "they don't want us to play, but we're always going to play it."  The CSN&Y classic "Ohio."

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Closing out the set was a song that was dedicated to all of the veterans "I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home)."

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John Corabi, the former lead singer of The Dead Daisies and Motley Crue (among others), opened up the show with a great acoustic set of tunes.  He played a story-tellers type of set where he would tell the origins of the songs before he played them.

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He noted that he got to hear the sound check and all of those songs reminded him of being in high school.  So he decided to play a song from that era, which was CCR's "Who'll Stop The Rain."

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Corabi touched on all groups from his career including The Scream ("Father, Mother, Son"), Motley Crue ("Hooligan's Holiday), and The Dead Daisies ("Dead and Gone").

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He also threw in a couple of nice covers that included Aerosmith's "Seasons Of Wither" and The Cars "Drive."

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It was a great night of rock and roll and I am so happy that live music is coming back!

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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