With one quarreling brother over 70 and the other just under, how much longer can we go on expecting a Kinks reunion? Maybe the great band finally did play its final tour 20 years ago after all.
Together or apart, though, there’s a need to hear the trove of great songs the band produced played live and seeing that there doesn’t seem to be any Kinks tribute band touring regularly it’s a treat to have Dave Davies on the road again fronting a band.
Especially coming after a 2004 stroke that incapacitated him for a few years.
It was big brother Ray who came up with the bulk of the Kinks’ classic songs, from the early anthems with signature power chords to the acutely observed scenes of a fading England in their innovative concept albums.
Dave’s had his share of great Kinks moments over the years, from creating that guitar sound to writing and performing a few great songs as well. And most of them were part of a generally crowd-pleasing show Tuesday at D.C.’s Howard Theatre. Yet his performance was uneven enough to cause worry not only for a band reunion but his own extended future on the road.
Rockers of a certain age have long relied on lyric sheets or TelePrompTers to jog their cobwebbed memories of their old songs, but Davies, 68, seemed to look down to even check the chord changes on “All Day and All of the Night” early in the night — the kind of core riffs that you’d think he could do in his sleep by now.
He’d check the nearby music stand as well for lyrics to things fans knew by heart and have varying vocal success all night such that his own “Strangers” from “Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneyground Part One” completely lost its key while other things like the more recent composition “Flowers in the Rain” worked much better.
With a nondescript trio behind him, Davies would only occasionally step back and get some serious guitar playing done, particularly on a notable “Living on a Thin Line” near the end of the show.
Armed with an acoustic guitar midshow he was able to turn up some touching moments, such as trying his way through the requested “This Man He Weeps Tonight,” which he said the band did not practice, and “Young and Innocent Days,” which they did.
With a happy, nearly goofy demeanor — he bounded on stage looking like Uncle Floyd — Davies provided a show of highs and lows that included an unexpected obscurity, “Creeping Jean” amid the kind of classics you just can’t mess up, from “She’s Got Everything” and “Tired of Waiting” to the undying “Deadend Street” and “Where Have All the Good Times Gone?” at the end.
He even brought out his girlfriend Rebecca Wilson, dressed in a spangly green dress, to sing the chorus on his best known song, “Death of a Clown.”
An encore rendition of “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” at the end proved much better than the one that started the show and proved maybe that he should just be playing these things more often to get them into shape.
Also, he should send a message to his brother to get on the stick as well.
The setlist for Dave Davies Tuesday was:
- “Ripping Up Time”
- “I’m Not Like Everybody Else”
- “All Day and All of the Night”
- “She’s Got Everything”
- “Creeping Jean”
- “Tired of Waiting for You”
- “See My Friends”
- “In You I Believe”
- “Strangers”
- “Flowers in the Rain”
- “This Man He Weeps Tonight”
- “Young and Innocent Days”
- “Front Room”
- “Death of a Clown”
- “Living on a Thin Line”
- “Dead End Street”
- “Where Have All the Good Times Gone?”
- “I’m Not Like Everybody Else”
- “You Really Got Me”