December 17, 2018

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Michael Stanley and the Resonators made what seems to be their annual holiday appearance at The Hard Rock Rocksino on Saturday night.   Stanley and long-time friends, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers are playing back to back weekends at the Northfield Park venue.

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The sold-out crowd was on their feet and singing along with Cleveland's favorite son all night long.

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Even though Stanley turned 70 this year, he still has the "it" factor.  His voice is still in top shape, the band is incredibly tight, and he still exudes an element of cool that few can pull off.

 

And oh yeah, he has a great catalog of songs that fans still want to hear.

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Northeastern Ohio fans have been supporting Stanley since he released an album with his first band, Silk in 1969.  Two Michael Stanley solo albums hit the store shelves in 1973, then in 1975, The Michael Stanley Band was born.  

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After ten studio albums, MSB decided to call it quits but Stanley kept going.  He formed The Ghost Poets, released several solo albums, and finally, he put together his current band, The Resonators. 

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The Resonators played songs from all aspects of Stanley’s career.  From “Rosewood Bitters” which came from his second solo record that featured Joe Walsh on slide guitar, to fan favorite “Midwest Midnight” to even a more recent cover of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane,” the band was firing on all cylinders.

 

Stanley noted that he never wanted to be the guy out leading the band, he really wanted to be a songwriter.  He said that he had a few good writing partners such as Jonah Koslen and Kevin Raleigh. However, the first song he ever wrote with keyboardist Bob Pelander, “Why Should Love Be This Way,” he knew it was something special.

 

Fans got their money’s worth as the band played twenty-one songs in their two hour set.  

 

The show came to a close with a three song encore that included a cover of “Everyday People,” and two MSB tunes “Fire In The Hole” from You Can't Fight Fashion and “Somewhere In The Night” from the 1981 North Coast lp.

 

Long-time friend, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers opened the show with a great hour of rock and roll.

 

The 75 year old Iris still has a ton of energy as he jumps around on the stage and even drops to his knees to belt out the high notes.

 

Kicking off the show with “Agnus,” Iris ripped through about four songs before playing the familiar chords to “Love Is Like A Rock” which got the crowd on its feet.

 

They stayed there as the drummer tore into the opening of “Ah! Leah!.”  Iris had the crowd singing along as he hit that patented scream at the end of the tune.

 

The Cruisers then went into Iris's first hit song “The Rapper” which segued into a great cover of “Hush.”

 

Iris ended his set with another great cover of Joe Cocker’s version of “With A Little Help From My Friends.”

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It was another great evening of rock and roll performed by two of Cleveland's favorite artists.

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan