Because I made a similar post about last week’s convention, I figure I should follow up with the other party’s musical selections.
Say what you will about Republicans, at least they ponied up for a live band (led by G.E. Smith) that did a wedding reception array of songs from soul and oldies catalogs.
The Democrats did a strange thing where they used actual recordings – but only the instrumental intros, looped over and over. So you got the feeling you were hearing any number of Jackson 5 songs, other Motown or Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life,” when actually all you heard was the intro.
When it came time to hire real musicians, Democrats were luckier to get any number of acts it wanted.
James Taylor might have played most – three songs to open Thursday’s closing sessions. “Carolina on My Mind” of course for North Carolina, but also “You’ve Got a Friend” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You” – good timey songs far from the pain of “Fire and Rain.”
It was Taylor who had one of the few jokes about an empty chair; he also mentioned that despite being an old white guy, he loved Obama.
Mary J. Blige performed “One” by U2, a surprisingly durable band for Democrats – Obama used it as his play-on music for his nomination acceptance speech – “The City of Blinding Lights” – just as he had in 2008.
(He ended his speech with something newer – “We Take Care of Our Own” from this year’s Bruce Springsteen album, “Wrecking Ball” that gave way to Brooks and Dunn’s “Only in America,” which he had used at his last nomination acceptance speech.)
It was surprising to see Foo Fighters on stage on the same night that the MTV Video Music Awards were going live from Los Angeles. They rocked the audience though with acoustic versions of “Hero,” which fit in well with the surrounding Bo Biden nominating speech for his dad; and “Walk.”
Marc Anthony had a thrilling national anthem Thursday, following Wednesday’s instrumental solo from Branford Marsalis – neither was meant to sing along to.
If the Republicans had an “American Idol” winner in Taylor Hicks performing last week, the Dems had a more recent contestant, Jessica Sanchez, backed by a full choir to do the Marvin Gaye/ Tammi Terrell hit “You’re All I Need to Get By.”
One casualty of moving the speech from the football field as scheduled to the indoor arena because of weather concerns: Earth Wind and Fire did not play, though a couple of their hits did between speakers as the convention wound down.