SHA NA NA brings their rock & roll celebration to town in a dynamic, crowd pleasing show that includes highlights of their four decade journey from WOODSTOCK, the movie GREASE, THE SHA NA NA TV SHOW and their world wide concert touring. In an interactive show where the audience sings along, dances along and participates in a “Greaser Olympics, a good time is had by all ages. Hey all you teen angels and party dolls: twist, stroll and hand jive to the classics as performed by the crowned princes of doo-wop and rock & roll, Sha Na Na. |
Concert review: Sha Na Na in
Ocean Grove, N.J. Sha Na Na behaves like a reunited old band playing its greatest hits — even if those hits weren't theirs to begin with. The performance on this sweltering evening was a good time, if sometimes tinged by a cloying wholesomeness…But the audience participation could be charming and funny. And when longtime members "Screamin' Scott" Simon, John "Jocko" Marcellino and Donny York got down to business, earnestly resurrecting the classics, Sha Na Na achieved what it set out to do in the era of flower power: Transport us, with a wink, back to a bygone period that, viewed through the prism of nostalgia, now seems carefree. The group performed a warm-and-fuzzy 29-song show that lasted 97 minutes,
not counting a 19-minute intermission. They opened with the 1957 romp "At
the Hop," the song from their career-making appearance in Michael
Wadleigh's 1970 concert film, "Woodstock." These themed segments kept the show moving. Simon reminisced about warning
onetime opening act Don McLean that he would never have a hit with
"American Pie," which referenced the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy
Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The group then
sang Valens' "La Bamba," Richardson's "Chantilly Lace" and There was much clowning. Saxophonist "Downtown" Michael Brown …in a shiny
zebra-print shirt performed much choreography while blowing a mean sax.
Guitarist Gene Jaramillo replicated signature '50s riffs with ease, sang
perfect Spanish on "La Bamba" and injected a hunk factor.
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