Story & Photographs by Diane Fleischman
There’s a definite buzz in the air at The State Theatre, as they celebrate the beginning of their 91st season. Friday night, Boz Scaggs, performed to a full house. Scaggs, who is no stranger to the Lehigh Valley, has performed at Musikfest and the Sands Event Center several years ago.
For Scaggs, now in his early seventies, has an amazing career spanning close to fifty years. His musical roots began as a teenager, and around 1959 he joined Steve Miller’s band, ‘The Marksmen’, as lead vocalist. The relationship between Scaggs and Miller would cross paths several times as the years rolled on.
On to the 70’s where disco music ruled the airwaves, it was during this period that Scaggs rose to stardom with his five time platinium Grammy award winning album, ‘Silk Degrees’ in 1976. Interestingly enough, when Scaggs recorded ‘Silk Degrees’, he used session musicians, who would later form the rock group, Toto. With over twenty albums released over the years, there was a good chunk of this album performed.
The show opened with “JoJo” (‘Middle Man’), followed by “It’s Over” (‘Silk Degrees’). He included a very soulful “Thanks to You” (‘Dig’), and on acoustic guitar picked up the tempo as the audience clapped along to “Harbor Lights” (‘Silk Degrees’).
With a quick guitar change back to electric, Scaggs continued with the ‘Silk Degrees’ playlist with “Georgia” , followed by “Look What You’ve Done to Me” (Urban Cowboy soundtrack). The audience gave a rousing round of applause, and a small standing ovation.
As the set neared the end, the anticipation grew as the audience waited for Scaggs biggest and most recognized hits, “Lowdown” was performed with that seventies funk and disco bass sound. The set closed with “Lido Shuffle” as the house lights came up the audience clapped and sang along, and gave Scaggs a full standing ovation.
Scaggs returned for an encore, he commented he was going to leave us with a little blues with “Somebody Loan Me a Dime”, which played on for close to twenty minutes, and finished the show with a Chuck Berry song, “You Never Can Tell.”
Boz Scaggs continues on the road in 2017, bringing a rich bouquet of blues, rock, pop, soul and a hint of jazz into his music. http://bozscaggs.com/
Check out the full calendar of performances at The State Theatre for more fantastic performances to come. http://statetheatre.org/