The crowd inside the BergenPAC auditorium in Englewood, NJ this Wednesday, June 12, 2024 evening is all set to dig the music of the 1960s and early ’70s with the stars of the 2024 Happy Together Tour — The Turtles, Jay and the Americans, The Association, The Vogues, Badfinger’s Joey Molland, and The Cowsills.
Inside the BergenPAC auditorium, concertgoers cheer as the Happy Together Band — Kenny Aaronson on bass, Chris Camilleri on drums, Manny Focarazzo on keyboards, and musical director Godfrey Townsend on guitar — take the stage for tonight’s performance.
Lights shine on the audience as the pre-recorded voice of DJ Shadow Stevens introduces The Cowsills, and siblings Susan, Paul, and Bob Cowsill take the stage. The Cowsills open the show with a bouncy rendition of their catchy ’67 hit, “The Rain, The Park, and Other Things” (aka “The Flower Girl”).
Rich vocal harmonies fill the air as the siblings perform with energy to avid cheers and applause.
Paul exclaims, “This goes out to everybody in the balcony!” as the trio soars into their 1967 hit, “We Can Fly.” Music lovers clap along to Bob’s lead vocal which is supported by Susan and Paul’s harmonies.
Bob recalls, “Susan picked this song for us when she was eight years old,” as the trio segues into a lively version of their 1968 hit, “Indian Lake.” Then, red, white, and blue lights flash as The Cowsills sing and play the TV theme song they recorded back in 1969 — the theme from Love, American Style.
Concertgoers cheer, and as images of ’60s hair styles appear on the screen behind them, The Cowsills end their set with a high-energy rendition of their 1969 smash, “Hair,” which has music lovers happily standing and applauding.
Next up is Badfinger’s Joey Molland who takes the stage opening with “Baby Blue.” Accompanying himself on guitar, Molland sings, “Thought you’d realize, that I would know, I would show/The special love I have for you, my Baby Blue,” on this 1972 hit.
The crowd applauds, and Molland responds, “Thanks for coming tonight! This next song is Paul McCartney’s — I hope you like it!” Sailing into Badfinger’s 1970 Top Ten smash, “Come and Get It,” Molland gets audience members’ heads nodding and toes tapping as he performs this delightful pop confection.
After improvising a short blues tune, Molland follows up with Badfinger’s 1971 Top 5 hit, “Day After Day.”
The crowd whistles and cheers for this catchy rocker which features HTT musical director Godfrey Townshend on a record-copy slide guitar solo. Audience members stand and cheer, and Molland declares, “Here’s the big one! It was a great hit called ‘No Matter What.’”
As vintage images of Badfinger appear on the screen, the crowd joins in as Molland sings, “No matter what you are/I will always be with you” before ending to an enthusiastic standing ovation.
The Vogues — Elliot McCoy, Troy Elich, and Royce Taylor — take the stage and open their portion of the show with their 1966 hit, “Five O’Clock World.”
The trio gets the audience clapping along to the beat and the crowd sings along on the song’s “A-da-lay-ee-ee” refrain, creating a symphony of rhythm, melody, and movement on this tune which was used as the opening theme for TV’s The Drew Carey Show.
Music lovers cheer, and The Vogues move on to their 1968 million seller, “My Special Angel.” The audience enjoys the smooth sound that Troy Elich and his colleagues create as they expertly harmonize with one another.
Elich jokes that he’s out of breath due to “the rise in elevation here in New Jersey” before suggesting that although tonight’s BergenPAC crowd appears to be “younger than most of our audiences, maybe an older sibling danced to this next song at prom.” Beautiful vocal harmonies on this dynamic rendition of The Vogues’ 1968 Top Ten hit, “Turn Around, Look at Me,” bring concertgoers to their feet cheering.
The Vogues end their set with their upbeat 1965 hit, “You’re the One.” The crowd sings along with Elich and Co. on this happy-go-lucky tune which inspires cheers, applause, and another standing ovation.
During intermission, several concertgoers voice their opinions of the show thus far. Comments Rob from Paramus, “I’ve seen the Happy Together Tour at least seven or eight times — I come year after year after year! The Cowsills were great, and I grew up listening to Badfinger, so hearing those songs again brought back great memories.”
Jane from Orange County, NY exclaims, “The Vogues are amazing! Their voices are just unbelievable, and the whole show is just so much fun!” Her friend, Sue from Orange County, NY, agrees, adding, “It’s such a feel-good concert, and it brings so much happiness,” before concluding, “You really forget how young you were when you first heard these songs — this music can really take you places!”
Bob from Fair Lawn insists, “I think this show is awesome! This is our seventh or eighth year in a row coming to the Happy Together Tour. We always see it here at BergenPAC and it always brings back so many memories.” His wife, Sue, concurs, explaining, “ Every year, we’ve had a fantastic time. Our kids are in their 30s and they’re here with us tonight enjoying it, too!”
Following intermission, the members of The Association — Del Ramos, Paul Holland, and Jules Alexander— take the stage and get music lovers’ toes tapping to the group’s 1966 #1 hit, “Windy.”
The crowd cheers, and founding member Jules Alexander jokes, “I never thought I’d still be doing this in my 50s!” After introducing an Association song which has been recognized by the music licensing organization, BMI, as the second most-played song of the past century, the audience responds with cheers and whistles for the group’s 1967 smash, “Never My Love.”
Del Ramos asks, “Are you guys having a great time or what?” before singing lead on the group’s 1966 hit, “Cherish.” Audience members happily sing along with the group on the song’s well-known “Cherish is the word I use to describe” lyric before avidly cheering and applauding.
Paul Holland announces, “We dare you to sing along with us on this next song!” joking, “If you have to ask what it’s about, then you don’t know!” Here, he and the group follow up with The Association’s controversial 1966 hit, “Along Comes Mary,” which gets audience members leaping to their feet as the trio takes a bow together.
Jay and the Americans — Sandy Deane, Darren Dowler, Jay Reincke, and Marty Sanders — take the stage and open their set with their 1963 smash, “Only in America,” where they fill the BergenPAC auditorium with rich four-part vocal harmonies on this upbeat number.
Music lovers applaud, and Reincke announces, We’re going to take you back to the very beginning to a song which was recorded by our first Jay — Jay Traynor.” Raindrops appear on the screen as Jay and the Americans perform their first major hit, the 1962 single, “She Cried.”
After introducing themselves, the Americans pay tribute to the group’s second Jay, Jay Black, with a stunning rendition of “Cara Mia.” On this show-stopping number, Jay Reincke hits all the high notes with ease, bringing the crowd to its feet.
Explaining that their next song was a hit both in 1964 and then again in 2017 when it appeared on the soundtrack to the film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the group performs “Come a Little Bit Closer.” As the house lights shine on them, the audience happily joins in on the song’s “Come a little bit closer/You’re my kind of man/So big and so strong” refrain.
Marty Sanders plays his original guitar intro to Jay and the Americans’ 1968 smash, “This Magic Moment.” Music lovers join in singing along with the group on the tune’s famous “Sweeter than wine (sweeter than wine)/Softer than a summer night (softer than a summer night)” lyric before rising to their feet for a standing ovation.
Tonight’s final act, The Turtles — Mark Volman and Ron Dante — take the stage and begin their set with a rockin’ version of the group’s 1967 hit, “She’d Rather Be With Me.”
Volman and Dante follow up with the 1966 Turtles hit, “You Baby,” where the crowd joins in on the playful “You baby/Nobody but you” refrain as Volman dances around the stage.
After Dante asks the audience, “Are you having a good time?” and concertgoers reply in the affirmative, Volman greets the crowd joking, “Hi, we’re The Turtles — at least, what’s left of them. We’re going to play some songs if I can remember them.”
The crowd sings along as the group performs their 1965 hit written by Bob Dylan, “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” Dante follows up by delivering a sparkling performance of his own 1969 #1 hit with The Archies, “Sugar, Sugar.”
Volman and Dante segue into a spirited rendition of The Turtles’ 1968 smash, “Elenore,” where lights flash over the audience as they sing “Elenore, gee, I think you’re swell” and Volman bounces a drumstick off the floor and catches it.
For tonight’s final number, the entire crowd stands, dances, and sings, “I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but you for all my life,” with The Turtles on the group’s 1967 chart-topper, “Happy Together.”
At the end, the audience cheers so enthusiastically that Volman jokes he’ll have to start the show all over again. One at a time, the performers return to the stage to do a snippet of one of their hits, after which everyone joins in on a full cast reprise of “Happy Together.”
As audience members exit the BergenPAC auditorium, several comment on tonight’s Happy Together Tour 2024 performance. Comments Phyllis from Maywood, “It was awesome! I loved all of the acts — they were all really, really good — and they all brought back a lot of memories.” Don from Ramsey calls tonight’s show, “Amazing!” after recalling, “Jay and the Americans sang at my high school prom in 1972!”
Mary from Montague exclaims, “It was a fantastic show! We come every year and it was excellent as usual,” prior to noting, “I’m a big Archies fan, so I loved it when Ron Dante did ‘Sugar, Sugar.’” Her husband, Louis, agrees, adding, “I loved Jay and the Americans. I love anything from the ’50s and early ’60s, and Jay Reincke’s voice was unreal.”
Tom from North Haledon explains, “I won tickets for tonight’s show from a local radio station and even though this music wasn’t the music of my childhood, I still connected with it — it was a fun show and now I’m hooked!” His wife, Kim, agrees, revealing, “I really wasn’t expecting it to be as great as it was! The Association’s performance was incredible and The Turtles were so funny, I was honestly amazed!”
Declares John from Norwood, “This show was absolutely fantastic! Every single act was good, and the ending of the show was phenomenal when they all came back to sing ‘Happy Together.’” John’s wife, Elaine, concurs, explaining, “Tonight’s show was a birthday celebration for me and it just couldn’t have been better — we were all so happy together tonight!”
Lastly, Mark from Stony Point, NY reveals, “I grew up in the ’60s and I just love this music! This Happy Together show was just one hit after another after another, making it the best show I’ve ever seen!”
To learn more about The Happy Together Tour, please go to happytogethertour.com. For info on upcoming shows at BergenPAC — including The Beach Boys on September 29, Diana Ross on October 27, and Dionne Warwick on November 7 — please click on bergenpac.org.
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