Three Dog Night Orange County Fair 8/3/2022

Alex Kluft Photography

Two of the greatest groups to come out of Los Angeles, CA played the Pacific Amphitheater at the OC Fair last night. Three Dog Night and The Grass Roots both had a number of great hits that had the audience singing along all night. The Grass Roots took the stage at 7:30 P.M. while there was still daylight. The Grass Roots were created by legendary producer Lou Adler with the iconic song-writing duo P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri. The group released their debut album Where Were You When I Needed You in 1966 making 2022 the 55th anniversary of the release. The founding members were Barri, Sloan, and drummer Joel Larson. Vocalist/bassist Rob Grill, a member of 40+ years combined, remained with the group until his passing in 2011. Although the group no longer has original members in the group it consists of 80’s era members lead guitarist Dusty Hanvey and keyboardist Larry Nelson who both joined in 1984, drummer Joe Dougherty joined in 1989, and bassist/lead vocalist Mark Dawson joined in 2008. The Grass Roots had more than 25 charting hits and their set included a few of the biggest like “Let’s Live for Today,” “Midnight Confessions,” “Sooner or Later,” “I’d Wait a Million Years,” and “Temptation Eyes.”

Three Dog Night formed back in 1967, although the group was known for its three singers Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron, the Three Dog Night was a real band too having it’s original lineup together from 1968-1973 and most of it until disbanding in 1976. The group reunited in 1981 with all three singers and original band members Michael Allsup (Guitar), Floyd Sneed (Drums), Jimmy Greenspoon (Keys) with a new bassist Mike Seifrit. Negron and Allsup would depart the group four years later, however Allsup returned in 1991 and remained with the group until leaving last year. After Negron left, Hutton and Wells continued as a duo until Wells passed in 2015, and Greenspoon was also a member from the the beginning until his passing in 2015. Since 2021 Three Dog Night is Hutton and his son Timothy who joined as the bassist last year, keyboardist Howard Laravea (since 17), vocalist David Morgan who took over for Wells in 2015, drummer Paul Bautz (since 93), and guitarist/bassist vocalist Paul Kingery first joined in 1982 as a substitute and then joined from 1985-1988 and again in 1996 until the present day.

Three Dog Night had eight Gold albums and one platinum between 1968 and 1974. On top of that they had 25+ charting singles, three which were number one. Three Dog Night played a number of hits including their three number ones “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” “Black and White”, and “Joy to the World,” which was the closer. The set also included “Shambala,” “An Old Fashioned Love Song, and One.”