CONCERT REVIEW: Bruce Hornsby (Akron, OH; 10.08.24)

“This probably isn’t what a lot of you were expecting to see tonight,” Bruce Hornsby said Tuesday (10.08.24) night crowd at Akron, Ohio’s Goodyear Theater. He said this after having finished a jazz version of one of his popular songs. And he was right. What I think most people, myself included, were expecting to see were some classic, but well-trodden songs that you likely knew and heard many times before. Instead, what we got was a group of extremely talented musicians improvising and experimenting with some Bruce Hornsby songs as the general backdrop. These were not the songs you knew as you knew them. They were reimagined and refreshed, and it elevated the entire evening.

Before the show started, people were tossing pieces of paper onto the stage and a tech would come out to pick them up. When I asked him what was happening, he told me that they were song requests, that Bruce would read them and use them to inform his set for the night. The crowd was already aware of this phenomenon, because most of the papers being tossed were typed and printed in bold fonts. What a cool idea, I thought, so I quickly grabbed my pen and paper and wrote down a cover song I saw Bruce had played recently and passed it to the (very patient) tech. “You’re probably too late,” he said, “but I’ll give it to him.”

A short while later, the show started with the first three songs: “Preacher in the Ring” Parts 1 & 2 and “Great Divide,” all three of which are from the album Spirit Trail, celebrating its 25-year anniversary this year. At first it was just Bruce on piano and drummer Chad Wright on drums. Then the rest of The Noisemakers came in on the next songs. “Preacher in the Ring Part 1” featured some deviations into parts of the jazz song “Cherokee” by Bud Powell, as well as pieces by piano greats Anton Webern and Elliot Carter, allowing Bruce to show off both his piano knowledge and talent. “I’m not so good at playing the hits from memory,” he said, laughing with the crowd. Letting them know, this would not be the typical set. While shuffling through the messy stack of suggestions on his piano, he explained that the night would be a “loose setlist” guided by the suggestions he received before the show.

The fourth song was the 1998 “Walk in the Sun,” which Bruce said was “almost a hit” peaking at number fifty something on the billboard chart. “But it’s better than that,” he said, giving the crowd another laugh.

Then, as he was trying to figure out what to play next, someone in the crowd shouted, “Gonna Be Some Changes Made,” which surprised Bruce, as apparently it was one of his more obscure songs. So, he quit looking and decided to play the song.

Some fans next to me in the audience were very excited as he played the opening notes. “He hasn’t played this in forever,” one said. That was somewhat obvious as you could tell he was struggling a bit through the song, and the band also weren’t really sure what to play, so they just turned it into a bit of a jazz improv, as Bruce looked up to queue members every so often, like fiddler John Mailander. And you know what? It was great!

Afterward Bruce laughed and thanked the band for being good sports, “They don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said, gesturing toward the band.

Although, by taking on that suggestion, it created a flood of other people yelling out songs, somewhat obnoxiously. Bruce was able to eventually shut that done in a way that felt natural to the veteran stage performer. “That song has become more of a piano song,” he said in response to the latest yell / request, as he sat down to play the dulcimers at the front of the stage. “It was actually composed on the piano.” Then he continued with the self-deprecation, “There’s no reason anyone should know that song. Unless you were one of the 8005 people that bought our dulcimer record.” The crowd laughed again, and he was able to continue with the show, mostly without interruption for the rest of the night.

Speaking of, I did not expect to see him play a dulcimer, but it was a fun way to break up the set. The highlight of the few dulcimer songs was drummer Chad Wright playing spoons and washboard on the Chuck Berry cover “Too Much Monkey Business”. Wright took a brief solo. It delighted Bruce so much, he said something to Wright, and then Wright took an extended and more fantastic spoon solo. There were several moments just like this throughout the evening. Bruce would look at guitarist Gibb Droll to take solo, or pull back on the piano, and let J.V. Collier take one on the bass, everyone smiling ear to ear as they did it. They were like an old friends just jamming together in sync, and it was a joy to watch.

Keyboardist John Thomas knew when to step in and when to hold back as well. No doubt he’s been playing with Bruce for a long time. He even played a song entitled, “Music for Bruce to Unfold His Sheet Music To,” at Bruce’s request, yet another of the many playful moments of the evening.

Then they played some “trippy shit,” as Bruce called it with the 2019 song “Fractals,” which featured some very impressive piano.  

Before they finished, they played “The Show Goes On.” A song that was recently featured as the opening song to the FX show The Bear. “Old has become new again,” Bruce said, saying that it was also featured in the Ron Howard movie Backdraft.  

They closed with 1993’s “Rainbow’s Cadillac,” another popular song of his, and the most requested, but it was set to the tune of the 1976 soul classic “Rubberband Man” by The Spinners.

These variations, lighthearted tone, and playful jazz breaks elevated the night above what could have been still a great night of some well-beloved songs. Instead, these performers were having a blast, and the show was so much better for it. And, although they never did play my request, it was a blast of a show to witness.