It was Valentine’s weekend, love was in the air, so what better time for Orchestra Kentucky and the Rewinders to premiere their latest Retro Series show, Endless Love? It had been some time since I’d been to a Retro Series show, so the lure of a new one got me to Van Meter, which is also a relatively new venue for Orchestra Kentucky. All the previous shows I had seen were at the Capitol.

Now as emcee and vocalist Jon Crosby pointed out, perhaps this concept might have appealed to the ladies a bit more than the men. But when the show opened with Chicago’s “Make Me Smile” I thought “hey, upbeat, and not too syrupy sweet, this might not be too bad.” The horn section was great on this song, and of course there were those guitar licks in there too. A good start. Next up was “Just the Way You Are”. So the sugar was starting to pour, but always loved the sax in this tune and the sax solo here was fantastic.

And this was the way the show flowed for most of the night – a little slow and sweet, and little fast and not so sweet. Some examples of this in the set list were “Since I Fell for You” followed by a highlight vocal performance by Bev Smith Lovelace on “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”, and “Goodbye to Love” followed by “My Baby Takes the Morning Train”. Other standout vocal performances were Tyrone Dunn’s interpretation of “Used to Be My Girl”, Darla Day’s nice take on “At Last”, Billie Duvall’s “On the Wings of Love”, Anthony DePriest’s “Pretty Woman”, Bev Smith Lovelace’s “Natural Woman”, and Dunn and Day’s spectacular duet on the evening’s title song, “Endless Love”.

Instrumental standouts were the brass section during “My Eyes Adored You”, the acoustic guitar playing by John McCracken and Bhrett Puckett in Eric Clapton’s “If I Could Change the World”, the string section in “At Last” was strikingly good, and the horn section in “Daydream Believer”. By and large the orchestra seemed to be a bit more subdued than in most of the previous shows I have seen. And the Rewinders seemed to be doing more of the heavy lifting in this show.

Being the 60s pop lover that I am, a few of my favorite song selections were “You Made Me So Very Happy”, “Daydream Believer”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, “Happy Together”, and a song I’ve always found extremely beautiful, the Bee Gees “To Love Somebody”.

Overall, I can’t say this was my favorite Retro Series show. My all-time favorite is Beatle Madness, followed closely by the last show I had seen, the Best of Retro. And it wasn’t just the subject matter; love songs can and have been just as powerful as the hardest rock and roll song. I just thought a few of the songs just lacked that special something. However, being an Orchestra Kentucky production, you can always be assured of hearing more than just a few standout performances, and this one was no exception, as I have pointed out above.  I’ll say it again; the concept is great. Pair a rock and roll band with an orchestra and you’ll hear something amazing. So I wait in anticipation for next season. How about you? Keep abreast of all of their shows at www.OrchestraKentucky.com.

Endless Love was at Van Meter Hall in Bowling Green KY on 2/11/2011.

About the author: Pennman bought his first 45 at age nine and has been hooked on rock ever since. He has spent much of his disposable income on music, especially live performances. He writes reviews of the shows he sees and keeps a keen lookout for upcoming shows in or near Bowling Green. He has a BA in Communications, specializing in journalism, and has dabbled in music himself, both as a player and instructor. Find more of Pennman’s work at www.associatedcontent.com/user/165511/pennman.html or visit him at www.myspace.com/pennman_bg or www.facebook.com/pennman