CALIFORNIA ROCK NEWS

Legendary Folk Rock group America played the YouTube Theater Saturday night (8/26) . Oddly enough America formed in the U.K. having one British member and two American members. America was formed as a trio with Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek. All three sang and played multiple instruments. As a trio the group released seven albums with their self-titled debut reaching number one. Peek left the group in 1977 and sadly passed away in 2011. Beckley and Bunnell are celebrating the group’s 50th anniversary with their touring band of bassist Richard Campbell, drummer Ryland Steen, and guitarist Steve Fekete. For 50+ years the group has released timeless music and has been a big part of Southern California’s music. America opened the show with one of their biggest hits “Tin Man.” America played 21-songs. Eight songs in, America played a song perfect for SoCal “Ventura Highway.” They also covered the Beatles “Elenore Rigby.” America also covered the Mamas and Papa’s “California Dreamin’” as they were a big influence on the group as well as other groups of that era like the Beach Boys who also covered it. Before playing California Dreamin’, they explained that as teenagers, they were living in England in the late 60s because their parents were relocated over there and that they saw many British bands there (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, the Who, Pink Floyd, …), but because of the US military base, they were also getting import records from the US (hence the Mamas and Papas). Before playing Nowhere Man, it was said that George Martin became their producer for 7 albums (starting with Holiday). They had a video screen behind them, that showed , among other things, pictures of the band members back in the day, old album covers and more. During “Sandman” it showed videos of the civil rights movement (MLK) and the peace movement (late 60s). America concluded the set with “Sister Golden Hair,” and came back for an encore of “A Horse With No Name.” Before the encore, in addition to reintroducing the band (they were introduced already during the show), they also introduced their crew: guitar tech, photographer/social media guy, and their sound guy who’s been with them for 20 years (notably with Fleetwood Mac before them), but originally was Nalalie Cole’s guitarist (and their current bassist was her bassist) After 50 years Beckley and Bunnell sound as great as ever and their music is apart of our history and culture. This was their last show for the year and they are taking a break now since they’ve been playing 100 shows per year for 50 years. This was their 53rd Anniversary. They joked that they wanted to call this tour “Music from the 70s by guys in their 70s”.

photos by David Khorsandi