Del Fuegos back in the 1980s
A few thoughts about the reunited 1980s Boston rockers the Del Fuegos' 85-minute performance Tuesday at the Varsity Theater -- one of 12 stops on their first tour in 22 years:
* The garage rock songs — including "It's Alright," "I Always Call Her Back" (with some cool surf blues guitar) and "Don't Run Wild" (with its Kinksian bass and guitar lines) — were as fun and exciting now as they were back in the day. I also liked their Ann Peebles cover with its deep groove and the jangly "Night on the Town," which sounded like Bob Dylan meets the Jayhawks.
* Apparently like all brothers in the same band, Dan and Warren Zanes remain rock-star thin. And they still fight. Well, they feigned a fight onstage, with Warren offering to sell his solo CDs for $5 while the Del Fuegos discs were $10 and Dan protested.
* Dan looks strangely like Steve Martin with Napoleon Dynamite's hairdo.
* During the medium-tempo tunes, it felt like the original quartet (plus an unintroduced keyboardist) was dumbing it down musically. They've obviously improved as musicians over the years but had to play in a rudimentary styles for many of the tunes. By the way, Dan Zanes has won a Grammy for one of his nine children's music albums, and Warren Zanes and bassist Tom Lloyd both have Ph.Ds
* The Del Fuegos' new material from the EP "Silver Star" had more textures and musical depth.
* The first encore selection, the 1986 hit "I Still Want You," suggested a slow-burn Tom Petty number. The Del Fuegos toured with Petty in the '80s.
