Herb Alpert & Lani Hall at Rancho Cucamonga Sat 1st June

martin

Well-Known Member
After having planned a choir tour in Southern California for the period of 24th May to June 2nd, I found out that Herb was going to play in Rancho Cucamonga on our free evening, Sat June 1st. Naturally I got tickets, the concert after all, was no more than about an hour and fifteen minutes away from the South Bay area where we were staying.
The Victoria Gardens Cultural Center is a very nice, intimate hall that seats 560. The concert was sold out. After having heard Herb with the trio and Lani three times earlier (in 2009, 2013 and 2014), I must say this was the best concert I have heard with this group so far. My over all favourite concert experience with Herb is still the Passion Dance tour in 1997, but that was a much bigger production, and is hard to compare with the considerably smaller quartet concerts.
What impressed me most this time, was actually Herb's playing. It was flawless and inspired throughout the 90 minute concert. The set list was probably quite similar to the other concerts that have been reported from this season. Starting with the Wonderful World video and ending with Copa Cabana as an explosive last encore. The video segments do a lot to lift the TJB and Brasil 66 medleys, and during the rest of the show a lot of Herb's art is shown on the big LCD screen, that the concert hall director told me had been brought to Rancho Cucamonga by Herb's people.
Bill Cantos, Hussain Jiffry and Mike Shapiro of course play ultra tight all the way, and together with Lani they were also able to re-create the Brasil 66 sound as all three sang background in combination with their immaculate playing.
All in all it was a wonderful evening that included Herb answering questions and telling humorous stories from his career. Some of my singers came to the concert also, and they assured me that even if not all of them were Herb Alpert fans in the first place, they had had a fantastic time.

- greetings from the north -

Martin
 
Back
Top Bottom