More Than A Feeling

Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, was found dead Friday in his home in southern New Hampshire. He was 55. I remember the huge impact that that first self-titled Boston album had. Everyone had a copy and everyone wore out the copy they had. Though I was a big fan I didn't see Boston live till 2004.

The Los Angeles CBS oldies rock station was know as Arrow and they had these great yearly concerts called Arrowfest. The last one was in 2004 (the next year the station went from being Arrow to being Jack and I think they are a little worried about how people might react at something called a Jackfest).

I took my son, a friend from work and his friend. The concert lasted somewhere between ten and twelve hours as we slowly worked our way through The Edgar Winter Group, .38 Special, John Kay and Steppenwolf, Styx, REO Speedwagon and finally Boston. Everyone played mostly their hits, in particular, Styx and REO were solid hits, one after the other. They were awesome, playing extended sets. It was maybe 10 or 11:00 PM before Boston took the stage. Everyone was, first, pumped up by the last two acts and second, tired as hell. Burnout was beginning to set in.

Boston opened with something I had never heard of before and followed it with something else I had never heard of. I think More Than a Feeling or Long Time was the next song, and whichever it was, it was spectacular. But it was followed by another song no one knew and these were not just short little ditties, they were long songs, with what appeared to be a lot of improvisation and jamming. Normally these are two things I have no problem with, but after ten or eleven hours I was tired. We all were tired and most didn't have the patience for what Boston was playing. My son wanted to go, I wanted to go, eventually my friend from work wanted to go but his friend didn't and we finally had to force the issue.

I know we heard both More Than a Feeling and Long Time, but I don't think I knew any other song they played in the hour or so we listened before leaving. I felt bad about leaving in the middle of their set, but they should have read the crowd better and adjusted to the long day we had all spent in the hot California sun.

I told my son that the next time they played we would go see them and hopefully be in a frame of mind to appreciate what they were trying to do. With Brad's death I have more than a feeling that this will never happen.