A Woodstock Legend in Bucharest: Joe Cocker Concert Impressions

Before the Concert

I’m looking forward to seeing Joe Cocker in concert again. I’m reading he was in Romania five times so far, four times in Bucharest and once at the Golden stag Festival in Brasov. I only saw him in 1995. He was the main act in a concert that also included Eros Ramazzotti and Rod Stewart. It was a hot August day on the National Stadium, and I had arrived there with friends sometime around noon, to make sure we got spots near the stage. The concert was a big deal at the time, when we were only beginning to receive the world’s greatest rock and pop performers in Romania after decades of Communism.

This time his concert is at Sala Palatului. Not a stadium (he still fills them though), not even Romexpo, where the concert was originally scheduled, but still a large venue (4,060 seats; and, after all, all size and type of venues are great for an artist like him and his audience). I look forward to his performance and that of his backing vocals – both were fabulous in 1995.

After the Concert

Ah, where to begin! My first reaction was literally "These people don't get old!" Meaning some of the great musicians out there. He didn't age a bit between 1995, when I first saw him, and this time. Sure, his face changed. But his voice and stage presence remained as powerful as before. Yes, for those of you out there wondering, he still plays air guitar a lot. Keyboard, too.

He was in great shape. After he sang "You Are So Beautiful," with no backing vocals, the crowd got wild. The girls were wonderful, too. There were three female backup singers, one of which also played guitar. We heard two of them in short solos on "Up Where We Belong" (one of the girls; she sounded very different from Jennifer Warnes -- that's the great thing about duets recreated in various concerts) and "Cry Me a River" (the other girl, who throughout the concert did a couple of Tina Turner moves).

The band was great, except for the drums in one section of "With a Little Help from My Friends." They just weren't right: the wrong kind of loud dull (as opposed to reverberating) sound.

Joe Cocker opened with "I Come in Peace," a song from his latest album. The concert was one hit after another. Even the new songs from the Fire It Up album, interspersed between old-time favorites, seemed like old hits if you judged by the warmed-up crowd's reaction. People also appreciated the Fire It Up songs for what they were on their own, especially "You Don't Need a Million Dollars."

The surprise song was, for me, "Come Together" -- the Beatles song. He did a really good job, yet again, with a fabulous Beatles song. (I had never heard Joe Cocker sing this one -- although, from what I see now, he has been performing it quite a lot.)

The whole concert lasted 1:45h, including the 10' encore ("Summer in the City" and "Cry Me a River").

"I Come in Peace" (Fire It Up)

"Feelin' Alright"

"The Letter"

"When the Night Comes"

"You Love Me Back" (Fire It Up)

"I'll Be Your Doctor" (Fire It Up)

"Up Where We Belong"

"Come Together"

"Eye on the Prize" (Fire It Up)

"You Don't Need a Million Dollars" (Fire It Up)

"You Are So Beautiful"

"Fire It Up" (Fire It Up)

"N'oubliez Jamais"

"You Can Leave Your Hat"

"Unchain My Heart"

"With a Little Help from My Friends"

Encore:

"Summer in the City"

"Cry Me a River"

Joe Cocker will be next at the Jazz Festival in Marciac, France (August 7), then at Fredriksten Festning in Halden, Norway (August 9), Smögenfestivalen in Smögen (August 10), Sweden, Stadtpark in Hamburg (August 11), and so on -- a pretty tight tour. You can see all the dates here, on the official Joe Cocker Web site.

Born John Robert Cocker on May 20, 1944 in Sheffield, England, Joe Cocker started performing at 15 (first drums and harmonica, and then, starting with 1961, lead vocals) with the Cavaliers – later known as Vance Arnold [Joe Cocker] and the Avengers – and, later, with the Grease Band, while he was working as a gas plumber for the East Midlands Gas Board.

Another studio record followed in 1969, and then in 1971 he released the live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, which he followed with 60 concerts in 60 days, according to one source, or concerts in 39 cities in less than two months, according to another (many musicians do that – can’t fathom how). And then came the abuse of drugs and alcohol, which lasted a decade. He still put out new records and gave concerts and performances in small clubs, but he didn’t have very many hits. There was, however, “You Are So Beautiful” (1975), a wonderful rendition of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1978), and a few others.

Then he made a comeback with Sheffield Steel in 1982, an album applauded by critics. One of the great tracks on Sheffield Steel is the well-known “Many Rivers to Cross.” The album didn’t make great sales, however, but Cocker soon followed with a duet with Jennifer Warnes, “Up Where We Belong” from the soundtrack to An Officer and a Gentleman. This duet did make it to the top of the charts.

Two more studio albums followed, as well as “You Can Leave Your Hat On” on the soundtrack of 9 1/2 Weeks in 1986, and then came Unchain My Heart in 1987. The title song, a version of Ray Charles’s song, was released as a single as well. He ended the decade with One Night of Sin, which includes the hit “When the Night Comes.”

Then he recorded Joe Cocker Live in 1990, followed by Night Calls in 1991. Besides the successful title song, Night Calls included a remake of Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” a song I’m only now listening to, as well as Free’s “Little Bit of Love.” The latter sounds much like the original version, and in this case that’s a great choice, I think.

It was a privilege to see you, Joe Cocker!

Update: Joe Cocker passed away on December 22, 2014 of lung cancer. He was (only) 70.