The Zombies Were Well Worth The Wait

Tonight, I finally got to see The Zombies in concert at the Wilbur Theater here in Boston. I was supposed to see them six weeks ago, but only hours before the show lead singer Colin Blunstone fell ill with a stomach virus and had to be hospitalized resulting in the show being cancelled as well as two others in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Fortunately, I was reassured that the show would go on by The Zombies themselves when they responded to my tweet.

Blunstone's voice was strong when he sang the first bars of "I Love You." At song's end, he received a standing ovation. Blunstone apologized for being a bit late. He was in good humor and so was the audience.

The first set was a mixture of 1960's singles and cuts from their 2015 album Still Got That Hunger. It is a shame that a band of The Zombies' stature had to rely on crowdfunding to get the album made. Then again, in so doing, they had the freedom to do what they wanted with no record company breathing down their neck. They re-recorded "I Want You Back Again" because Tom Petty had recorded it. As Rod Argent put it, "We're going to do a cover of a Tom Petty covering a Zombies' song."

Speaking of Argent, the most enthusiastic response of the night with the playing of "Hold Your Head Up". He noted that audiences loved to sing along with it but got the lyrics wrong. Argent said the chorus is "Hold Your Head Up Woman" adding, "For God's sake, get it right." Argent then demonstrated why he is arguably the greatest keyboard player in the history of rock 'n roll. Don't get me wrong. You've got the late Keith Emerson, the late Ray Manzarek as well as Alan Price. But while most bands are defined through guitar, The Zombies were defined through the keyboard.

The second half of the show was devoted to playing the Odessey & Oracle album in its entirety note for note. It was recorded 50 years ago at Abbey Road Studios, but not released until 1968 by which time the band had already broken up. Odessey & Oracle bore their biggest hit, the Argent penned "Time of The Season".

I must confess that until tonight I perceived The Zombies as essentially a two man band - Argent and Blunstone. During the Odessey & Oracle set, Argent and Blunstone were joined by drummer Hal Grundy and bass player Chris White. Odessey & Oracle would not have been possible without Chris White who wrote 7 of the 12 songs including the anti-war "The Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)" and "Brief Candles" both of which feature vocals from White. Odessey & Oracle has held up remarkably well as evidenced by the 20 and 30-something's singing along with it. My personal favorites are "Maybe After He's Gone" and "Hung Up On a Dream".

Following Odessey & Oracle, Argent spoke at length about the challenges recording the album on a 1,000 pound budget from CBS and "borrowing" John Lennon's Mellotron. Argent then gave a lengthy introduction to each member of the band. I've seen many shows where band members are barely acknowledged or recognized at all. Rod Argent could lecture at the Berklee School of Music on the history of rock 'n roll.

But why lecture when you can play. The show ended with "She's Not There". The Zombies had played it during the first set, but this time they did an extended jam with Argent seguing into a couple of Spencer Davis songs ("Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm a Man") which briefly took me back to the Steve Winwood concert scarcely a fortnight ago.

Good things come to those who wait and The Zombies were well worth the wait.