Pier Six Pavilion, Baltimore: A friend mentioned that he really missed concerts. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Not me.” My last show was on May 11, 2020, at the Loft in Atlanta. Guitarist Eric Johnson delivered a stirring two-hour set of new songs and classics. Yet I’ve burned out a little regarding live music.
There was a year when I attended over 45 shows. This time last year, I had decided to cut back. The biggest reason is most of the shows were bleeding into one another – and, quite frankly, were forgettable. Magical musical moments were becoming few and far between. It wasn’t always that way. I recently found the tour book and my show notes from the Michael McDonald show from 1987 in Baltimore.
Picture it: Baltimore, on a hot September night. McDonald, on his second solo tour since the breakup of the Doobie Brothers, is out promoting his album No Looking Back.
I’d seen the Doobies before, but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I heard guitarist Robben Ford and saxophonist Edgar Winter were in the band, but this was pre-internet so I didn’t know for sure. What I did get from Michael McDonald was a set list that delivered hit after hit with more power and soul than anything the Doobie Brothers could muster.
The band’s fire starter was the keyboardist/vocalist Chuck Sabatino. Sabatino, who died in 1996, was a childhood friend of McDonald from St. Louis. He contributed keyboards to three songs on No Looking Back, then provided soulful vocals on stage that rivaled McDonald’s. “By Heart,” which McDonald and Sabatino co-wrote with David Pack, and then the gospel-tinged Doobie Brothers song “Keep This Train a’ Rollin” benefitted for Sabatino’s powerful tenor.
Another MVP of the night was George Perelli. The drummer handled songs from No Looking Back, meeting and sometimes exceeding the parts originally played by Jeff Porcaro. He also added fire to the rearranged Doobie classics. I was surprised when the the guitar chair was filled by Ambrosia’s lead man, David Pack. Pack’s vocals were spot on, yet he provided unexpected muscle from his Telecaster on the songs “Bad Times” and “Takin’ It to the Streets.”
The musicality of the band further enhanced the man who was center stage behind his Yamaha DX-7. Michael McDonald was in good voice all night. He was not afraid to add musical muscle to songs like “Sweet Freedom” or “It Keeps You Runnin’,” or hit deep cuts like “Our Love” and “I Can’t Let Go.”
Not only did he try hard to recreate what had yet to be created. He succeeded.
Michael McDonald, Sept. 3, 1987 Setlist:
“No Looking Back”
“By Heart”
“What a Fool Believes”
“Real Love”
“Sweet Freedom”
“Bad Times”
“I Keep Forgettin'”
“Here to Love You”
“I Can Let Go Now”
“Our Love”
“Keep This Train a’ Rollin'”
“Minute By Minute”
“Takin’ It to the Streets”
Encore:
“It Keeps You Runnin'”
“Ya Mo Be There”
“When a Man Loves a Woman”
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