Richard Barone, Steve Addabbo & Eric Bazilian – World Café Live – Philadelphia, PA – June 17, 20

Updated: Jun 27, 2022

Richard Barone, Steve Addabbo & Eric Bazilian – World Café Live – Philadelphia, PA – June 17, 2017

World Café Live was transformed into a 1960’s era venue last Saturday, as Richard Barone brought his covers album Sorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960’s to life. With help from the expert musicians Steve Addabbo and Eric Bazilian, the show, played to an intimate and receptive crowd, was a glorious tribute to the past.

Every cut of the album was played. Performers as familiar as Bob Dylan (“I’ll Keep It with Mine”), The Velvet Underground (“Sunday Morning”) and Paul Simon (“Bleecker Street”) came to life with the expert guitar and vocals of Barone with Addabbo and Bazilian. With stories of the era in Greenwich and the connections between producers and varied performers being unspooled from the masterful mind of Barone, it was a mini-masterclass in rock history.

With the towering Buddy Holly and the should-be-better-known Dion and Janis Ian, among many others, being contextualized and reimagined, it was a live performance like no other. Barone played some from his repertoire and also took suggestions for covers, leading to a grand performance of Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman.”

Addabbo, who opened with a great set of his own work and collaborations with the likes of Suzanne Vega (“Left of Center”), was a wonderful, integral part to the night. Bazilian of The Hooters brought his own guitar and mandola wizardry center-stage, allowing for some great moments of jamming among the three. And let us not forget his harmonica and flute prowess that added further flavor to the night.

A night of music that too few saw but all will remember, this performance showed why Barone is one of the true unsung masters of rock. Do not miss him next time.