The Retrorockets - Porters Yellowtail Lounge (Sports Bar) 10.2.09

Last night at Porters Oyster Bar - Yellowtails Sports Bar was yet another weird experience for me. I now prefer to call it Yellowtails Lounge as last night, I felt I had walked in to a Holiday Inn lounge in the late 70's. I've noted this before but this place really is an older bar. The local townies seem to congregate there and at the Cottage but maybe more here at Yellowtails now. Let's face facts. This is the only place in town with a live band on a Friday. Actually, it's one of the few places in the area with live music on a Friday night. That may also be why it was pretty crowded last night. Not packed. But a brisk business, and that is a GOOD thing in these economic times. Many bars and restaurants would have liked to have been this busy last night, I'm sure.

Now to the band.

Here's the hints: 1) SEVEN people in the band; 2) a woman lead vocalist who doesn't appear to play anything else; and 3) the band is named The Retrorockets

Yep. It's a lounge band. It's a wedding band. Join that up with the ambiance of Porters and you have a late 1970's Holiday Inn! It would have been almost cool except that I wasn't all that impressed. Also, I've never heard of them before.

The Retrorockets sounded relatively well-rehearsed. There were some glitches here and there and probably a few more that I've heard with other bands. I'm sure the audience didn't know. They were too busy comiserating and sizing each other up for future consideration.

Here's another hint to be added to those three I listed above. Here's what was included in the first set: Brown Eyed Girl, Hard To Handle, Margaritaville, I Feel Good (James Brown), Smooth, Unchain My Heart, China Grove, Soul Man, What I Like About You, Brickhouse, Play That Funky Music

Brown Eyed Girl was OK. Hard To Handle was hard to handle for me. Margaritaville was uninspired. I Feel Good was OK. Smooth got a great reaction from the crowd and sounded the best out of this group of songs. Unchain My Heart was barely OK. China Grove almost tipped me over. The vocal (I'm sorry) was really weak. I have not heard Soul Man played by a band in a bar in many many many years ... and there's a reason for that. The guitar intro to What I Like About You was simply weak and not good at all and the singing was certainly "loungy". Brickhouse had me reaching for my coat and Play That Funky Music tipped it.

Most of you know that I typically don't get too hard on bands in my blog as I am a HUGE supporter of live music and we need more venues presenting more live music in the area. So, Retrorockets, the only reason I've said what I've said in this post is that you've obviously been around for while and you know what I'm saying here really is only my opinion. You had a good crowd and when I left, you had the 12'x4' "dance floor" congested. I've played in bands exactly like yours before so I know what you're doing and how enjoyable it is to have all that musical exchange stuff happening between members. .

My big question is, why 7 people? With seven band members, you couldn't have been paid much more each than what a good dinner there costs. Also, I'm sure there's lots of places that can't squeeze you into their establishments. Just an observation.

Well anyway, the older audiences would probably like The Retrorockets and they certainly played songs that everyone knows and at one time loved. Check out their web site at :
http://www.retrorockets.net/index.htm