Where:
New York City
Venue:
Central Park Summerstage
The Zombies have come along way from 60s pop hits to today’s reincarnation
of the classic dynamic British five-piece. Even with just two original members,
The Zombies managed to bring the 60s back to Central Park. They entered the
SummerStage venue with force playing "I Love You", a Chris White
written track that features vocalist Colin Blunstone's amazing and fresh vocal,
with grains of years attached to his falsetto.
Blunstone and Rod Argent have a strong relationship on and off the stage.
Argent provides splendid keyboard riffs and spectacular solos to go with Steve
Rodford's hearty percussion. The setup was rather relaxing and leaned towards
progressive rock rather than the general rock/pop and beat The Zombies were
originally known for. They played tracks ranging from their second album Being
Here to their "new" album from 2011... Breathe
In, Breathe Out.
It was their 2011 album Breathe In, Breathe Out that received my
highest attention. Argent briefly paused between certain songs to talk about
the past; before mentioning Dave Grohl's personal likes. I've never seen a band
(and an aged one of that) care so much about accolades from Rolling Stone and
NME. It was strange, but amusing.
The Zombies played "Care of Cell 44", "I Want Her She Wants
Me" and "This Will Be Our Year" before pulling out the old
classic "Time of The Season". It sent the crowd in to raptures, a
killer tune as the sun set on New York City. They continued to impress with an
Alan Parson Project cover, "Old and Wise". Although The Zombies are a
critical influential band from the 60s, they still manage to excite audiences,
young and old. Their re-incarnated form played George
Gershwin's "Summertime" from their debut album as the final song. The
Zombies have youthfulness and skill; this comes a long way in the current age
of reformations.
There was ultimately a stark difference between
Django Django's dance filled fun and The Zombies simplistic romantic love songs
The front row drastically aged by about 40 years by the time Argent and
Blunstone came on. This was an experience to say the least. It's a name I can
now tick off the long list, but add to the list of flawed reformed bands that
are just too old to be doing this as a night time job. It was nice of The
Zombies to play for free, and that’s what I’ll remember most about the
performance.
~Eddie