Nearing 90, Frankie Valli is Still Hangin' On To What He's Got

On Saturday night, I saw and heard Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons at the Wang Theatre in Boston on a cold and rainy night. 

It marked my first concert at the Wang since October 2015 when Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band graced the stage. It also marked my first time in Frankie Valli's presence in nearly 20 years. The last time I took in a Frankie Valli concert was at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade overlooking the Charles River in August 2004. It was part of the free summer concert series sponsored by the long since defunct Oldies 103.3. He was 70 years old at the time.

Frankie Valli is now less than six weeks away from his 90th birthday and he is still actively performing. Just to get to 90 is an achievement. But to do a 90-minute show nearing 90 night after night is nothing short of astonishing. Remember Tony Orlando just performed his final concert last night shy of his 80th birthday because he doesn't have the energy for it anymore. Valli is more than a decade older and despite what is being billed as the Last Encores Tour, Valli made a point of saying he hopes to play Boston more often. Those are not the words of a man who has imminent plans for retirement. Last night, he played at Radio City Music Hall. Tomorrow night it is onto Baltimore. 

As for the proceedings in Boston, what I found equally remarkable was how diverse the audience was in age. Aside from Paul McCartney, I have not seen an artist of Valli's vintage draw so many people in their 20s and 30s to their shows. There were five young women seated below me who were on a girl's night out and chose to spend an evening taking in the songs of a man old enough to be their grandfather. 

No doubt a lot of these younger folks probably either saw Jersey Boys on Broadway or on tour or saw the Clint Eastwood film of the same name. Or perhaps they've seen Grease which opens with Valli singing the Barry Gibb penned title track. Indeed, when the first bars of "Grease" opened the show people were jumping out of their seats and were singing and dancing along. He was accompanied by a dozen players (all male) including a three-man horn section, three guitarists, a drummer, a keyboard player and four backup vocalists all of whom showed themselves to be pros. 

Valli was also in good humor. He asked the audience how many people had taken in his concerts before. He then asked how many people had never taken in one of his concerts before. After a loud response, Valli quipped, "So where the hell have you been?" Before introducing "Silence is Golden", Valli said, "Let's slow it down a bit....because I need too." Later in the show, the ensemble performed a medley of "My Girl/Groovin'" alternating the Temptations and the Rascals' classics. It was from an album released in 2007 called Romancing the '60s. Valli held up a copy of a CD and then gave it to an audience member in the front row. Valli then said, "Now if I could only get rid of the other 400,000 copies."

While Valli might have been disappointed in how Romancing the '60s was received, he could not be disappointed with an age diverse audience which was singing "Working My Way Back To You" (where he showed he could still hang on to a long note), "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)", "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (especially the "oh, I love you baby" part), "Sherry" (where he showed he can still high some high notes when the occasion calls for it) =, "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Rag Doll" and "Let's Hang On". Nearing 90, Frankie Valli is still hangin' on to what he's got and we're hangin' on with him.