The unlikely pair of gyrating English soul singer and pioneering pop-rock star shared the stage at Sunday night.
Perhaps out of respect for the older Cocker, Huey Lewis and the News took the stage first and wasted no time pulling out their many chart-topping hits. The 10 parts of “the News” including drums, bass, lead guitar, keys, a four piece horn section and two female back up singers, kicked off the show with 1984’s “Heart of Rock ‘N Roll,” followed by genre appropriate covers like “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Respect Yourself” and an a capella version of Frankie Lymon’s “Little Bitty Pretty One.”
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The audience patiently waited through the covers and shot to its collective feet when Lewis returned to his own music with “I Want A New Drug.” Lewis played almost all of his top 10 singles including “If This Is It,” “Heart and Soul,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” and “Perfect World.”
The only No. 1 hit that he did not play play was “Hip to Be Square,” the second single from the multi-platinum album “Fore!”. This left many wondering if it is indeed no longer “hip” to be square, or if he has stopped playing the song in light of its latter day connection to “American Psycho.”
Lewis left the stage for a bit only to return and say, “Who would have known that after writing this song that we would have to play it every night for the rest of our lives?” The crowd erupted in cheers as the keyboard player played the synthesized intro to the group’s international hit “The Power of Love.”
Joe Cocker took over for the second half of the night and commanded the crowd with growls, well-timed screams and stiff hand gestures.
The younger generation of fans might recognize Cocker for his cameo singing “Come Together” in “Across the Universe,” but he still gets by with a little help from his friends — playing moving versions of Randy Newman’s “You Can Leave Your Hat On,” Ray Charles’ “Unchain My Heart” and Billy Preston’s “You Are So Beautiful.”
Cocker’s true vocal talents were on display best when he performed his Grammy winning hit “Up Where We Belong” from the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman.”
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Evan Semón is a Denver freelance writer and photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. See .
Nathan Iverson is a Denver photographer and regular contributor to Reverb.
