Huey Lewis and the News at Irving Plaza

Huey Lewis was born Hugh Anthony Cregg III in New York City on July 5, 1950, and was raised in Marin County, California. As a young adult, he learned to play harmonica while hitchhiking across the country back to New York, unaware that this musical pastime between rides would lead to a career. His joined bands in the 1970s with limited success, but in the 1980s he finally tasted commercial success with Huey Lewis and the News. The band is presently touring in support of the 30^th anniversary re-release of its Sports album, which yielded four Top 10 hits in 1983 and 1984.

At Irving Plaza tonight, Lewis sang and the band played Stax-Volt-influenced party songs better than the slickest, tightest bar band. Lewis’ singing and harmonica riffs, the soul-revue horns, the gospel-sounding backing vocals and the overall respect for the American musical canon gave integrity to the band’s hits from the 1980s, especially in “The Power of Love”, "Jacob's Ladder", "Do You Believe in Love" and "Workin' For A Livin.'" The festivities were sustained with spirited versions of two 1960s soul music standards, the Soul Brothers Six’s “Some Kind of Wonderful” and J.J. Jackson’s “But It’s Alright.” Huey Lewis and the News in concert tonight proved that feel-good music is timeless. It was a blast!