Daryl Hall (left) and John Oates revived their string of ’80s ballads and blue-eyed soul anthems for a packed Paramount on Sunday.
Having come just short of selling out the 1,870 capacity venue, the best-selling pop duo in recording history walked onto the stage shortly after 8 p.m. on Sunday, greeted by an enthusiastic (albeit subdued) older audience of nearly 1,700.
Following the crowd pre-show toward the concert hall, the 16th Street Mall came alive with women in their mid-forties to early fifties attempting to recapture their mid-’80s fashion sense. Pastel micro-minis, spandex tights, wrist bracelets and bangles and what must have been cases of Aqua-Net to get their hair to stand up that high — I kept an eye out for leg warmers but thankfully didn’t see any.
Daryl Hall and John Oates met under extreme circumstances in 1967 while both attending Temple University in Philadelphia. At the Adelphi Ballroom with their bands for a music competition they ran into the same service elevator to escape gunfire that had erupted from a gang fight inside the auditorium. Five years later, they signed with Atlantic records and released their debut album, “Whole Oats.”
A visibly graying 62-year-old Daryl Hall arrived in a leather jacket and sunglasses. The 60-year-old John Oates arrived smiling and waving to the crowd wearing a faded classic blue and orange Denver Broncos T-shirt. They opened with “Maneater,” one of their 11 No. 1 singles produced over a 40-year chart-topping career.
Backed by a six-piece band, including their musical director Tom “T-Bone” Wolk shredding an amplified acoustic guitar like a madman, their live performance of “Family Man” had a much harder rock edge than the studio produced version. Redeeming himself from a poorly received performance in March on “Dancing with the Stars” and defining his roots in the genre of ‘blue-eyed soul,’ Hall’s vocal range on “Sara Smile” justified his reputation as one of the most talented male singer-songwriters in music. After “She’s Gone,” one of Hall’s best performances of the night, the crowd finally leaped to their feet for the first of five standing ovations.
Ninety minutes into their set they had the audience on their feet again, this time dancing during a funk-inspired ten minute jam of “I Can’t Go for That.” During the first encore the crowd stayed on their feet for “Rich Girl.” “You Make My Dreams Come True” was replete with scores of “oooh-ooohs” during the chorus from Oates. They closed the night with “Private Eyes”, completing their trifecta (along with “One on One” and “Kiss on My List”) of sappy pop songs from the ’80s that are better left in the ’80s.
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Sean Kennedy is a Denver-based writer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
