May 19, 2019

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Nils Lofgren, the Hall of Fame guitarist for the E Street Band, brought an all-star band of his own to The Kent Stage last Thursday.  Lofgren is out supporting his latest record, Blue With Lou, which includes songs that he wrote with the late Lou Reed.

 

Lofgren told the audience that it was the first time that he was able to bring the musicians who played on his latest record out on tour since he was in the band Grin in the 1970’s.  The musicians who accompanied him on stage included: his brother Tom Lofgren who played keyboards and guitar, drummer Andy Newmark, bassist Kevin McCormick, and vocalist Cindy Mizelle.  

 

Nils opened the show with a few strands of CSNY’s “Ohio” just to let the fans know that he knew exactly where he was playing.  He and the band then went into “Walkin’ Nerve,” then segued into “Daddy Dream.”

 

“Thanks for coming tonight!” Lofgren proclaimed.  “We’re gonna have a good time.” Indeed, the near-capacity crowd were bopping in their seats on some of the tunes and then sat back and enjoyed the music on others.

 

The outfit played some great rock and roll songs like “Rock or Not,” and they also mixed it up by playing several nice acoustic songs such as “Too Blue To Play.”  

 

Lofgren switched to the keyboards and let Cindy Mizelle take over the lead vocals on the beautiful “Big Tears Fall.”

 

Even a Grin song, “Big Rain” made the set list.

 

Lofgren played an extended version of “I Came To Dance” that got some fans up and out of their seats to dance in the aisles.  This continued on as people stood right in front of the stage and danced along as the band closed the show with “No Mercy” and “Shine Silently.”
 

The entire evening was a master class in musicianship and The Kent Stage was the perfect setting for this intimate performance.

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Review by Greg Drugan

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