It almost seems unfair the amount of skill Tom Scholz possesses. You have an organist that rivals Jon Lord in skill, a guitarist that has written some of the most recognized riffs in rock history and a mechanical engineer to boot. Boston has seen its share of line-up changes over the course of their 36+ years in the music business. At the core though is the wizard, Tom Scholz.
Boston hit Stage AE in Pittsburgh, PA on 8/10/2012 to a nicely packed house. One would think that many did not know or care about the status of the line-up and once the band roared into their set tt really didn’t matter. Lead vocalist Tommy DeCarlo did an outstanding job of matching note-for-note the original albums that have become a soundtrack for that generation. Guitarist Gary Pihl, who many may remember from his tenure with Sammy Hagar, shared many dual leads with Tom as well as solos of his own. David Victor brought a great stage persona and did a great job with the vocals. Bassist Tracy Ferrie, a guest of our podcast, brought a Rudy Sarzo-style stage performance and drummer Curly Smith kept the beat strong and steady. Tom, well Tom was Tom. But there was something I haven’t seen in quite some time. He seemed to really be enjoying himself on stage more than ever. Not that he didn’t seem to be having fun before but there was something special in the air (well there were a lot of things in the air actually but that’s another story).
As far as song choice, aside for “Let Me Take You Home Tonight” there was really nothing missing. The material of the first album, Don’t Look Back, Third Stage and even Walk On were all well represented.
