BIG BOZ MAN

Rip It Up, Issue 9, 1 March 1978, Page 9

BIG BOZ MAN

John Malloy

Boz Scaggs is a man who takes himself and his music seriously, and it seems to have paid off. At an abortive press conference to which Rip It Up was invited, but not able to interview the man, Boz answered even the trite questions of the mainstream media with intelligence and depth. The same professional attitude was obvious at a faultless concert at Auckland's own Western Springs Stadium. Even the excellence of the pop group, Dragon, who opened the show strongly, paled beside the superb show put on by the Scaggs team. I say team because the lighting was right on cue, the staging was excellent, and the sound was as good as comes through an expensive stereo. Which is what it was. And the man himself was right up to the treatment accorded him. His vocals were impeccable, and he moved sparingly but gracefully around a huge cleared stage. His band, stacked out of the limelight, nevertheless put on the performance you would expect from a bunch of L.A. session mucicians. If it sounded exactly like the record (but louder), then it was probably because that’s how it was meant to sound. Michael Landau stood out, on guitar, and the two backup singers, Vanetta Fields and Paulette Brown, sounded (with a little help from the engineers) like an entire choir. But the main impression was that of a band, superbly rehearsed and tasteful, creating the perfect environment for the boss, the man. From where I stood, he seemed to be concentrating hard on his vocals, occasionally playing piano, or flashing off a guitar lead, but always the musician. The only miss to my mind were his slow ballads, which were just too bland for my taste, but which obviously reached the audience, just as “Lido Shuffle” blew the place apart. Boz Scaggs came back for two encores. I doubt if I’ve ever seen a Western Springs audience get off that way. It was the least we could do.