Eric Burdon spills the hippie blues at City Winery (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
City Winery
155 Varick St. between Spring & Vandam Sts.
Monday, August 8, and Tuesday, August 9, $85-$125, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.ericburdon.com
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Eric Burdon let the hippie blues flow Monday night at City Winery, where he and the latest iteration of the Animals performed the first of two intimate shows to a delighted audience. Burdon, who recently turned seventy-five, might not have the same vocal range that he displayed back during the British Invasion, but he is still one of the best song interpreters of his generation. Over the course of his fifteen-song set, he told stories about Nina Simone, Lead Belly, Bo Diddley, and the Monterey Pop Festival while playing a show heavy with hits, several of which featured expanded arrangements. He and his crack band, consisting of guitarist Johnzo West, keyboardist Davey Allen, bassist Justin Andres, saxophonist Ruben Salinas, trombonist Evan Mackey, and drummer Dustin Koester, opened with a funky version of “Spill the Wine” — preferably not the Eric Burdon Cabernet Sauvignon that City Winery was selling for the occasion — followed by a string of classics, including “See See Rider,” “When I Was Young,” “Monterey,” and “Don’t Bring Me Down.” Burdon then paid tribute to Elias McDaniel, better known as Bo Diddley, with “Bo Diddley Special,” from his fine 2013 album, ’Til Your River Runs Dry. “I was given this gift without asking,” Burdon sings. As the evening went on, his gift was ever more in evidence, performing a stirring version of Lead Belly’s “In the Pines,” then picking up power as he brought the house down with “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “The House of the Rising Sun,” and a massive “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” that finally got the somewhat reserved, older crowd shaking and grooving, which reached its apex with the encores, a defiant “It’s My Life,” with Burdon declaring that “he ain’t no saint, no complaints,” then concluding with Sam & Dave’s “Hold on, I’m Comin’.” Watching Eric Burdon in 2016, more than fifty years after the Animals first invaded America and the pop charts, still fills you with rebellious spirit; when everyone in the audience screams out together, “It’s my life and I’ll do what I want / It’s my mind and I’ll think what I want,” you feel like anything is possible. And at least for one night, it was. (Alberta Cross leader Petter Ericson Stakee opened up with a solo set that never had a chance over the rudely chattering crowd.)