Stephen Stills Kenny Wayne Shepard & Barry Goldberg – The Rides Crusing at Balboa

Built in 1924, the Balboa Theatre was a grand 1920s vaudeville/movie palace with a seating capacity of 1,534. As part of the Fox West Coast circuit, the Balboa featured live vaudeville and movies but tonight the crowd is gathering for a very special event. Tonight’s performance will consist of Stephen Stills (vocals,guitars), Kenny Wayne Shepard (vocals,guitars) and Barry Goldberg (keyboards) better known collectively as “The Rides”, the band will also feature, Kevin McCormick (bass) and Chris Layton on the drums. I was not able to get a set list but will list the covers that I did recognize as best as I can. I loved the way the bluesy songs set the mood for the evening and then every couple of songs KWS would bump it up a notch and the audience would start standing and dancing to the groove that he masterfully laid down.

I was pleasantly surprised by KWS vocals and thought he did an amazing job even while singing his own song “Blue on Black” which KWS normally does not sing. Lead vocals went about half-n-half between KWS and Stephen Stills and both traded off guitar solos a few times and played off of each other. I thought Stephen Stills did a beautiful job on guitar and for the most part his playing was awe inspiring. Kenny did what Kenny always does and made his guitar sing to our souls. It was great to see legends and soon to be legends at work. The sound was overall very nice even though Barry Goldberg’s keyboards could have been in the mix a bit more but I could hear him very well on his very tasteful piano solo during one of the songs. The first song I recognized was an Elmore James cover “Talk to me baby” which had most of the audience singing along with the band and it soon became very contagious throughout the theatre. The Rides version of “I’ve got to Use my Imagination” which was written by Barry Goldberg and was a number one hit in 1973 for Gladys Knight & The Pips, was another crowd favorite. Other songs besides the ones that I have mentioned and had the whole crowd standing and singing along with, were “Love the one you’re with” by Stephen Stills and a great rendition of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World”, which was the encore. I believe that tonight the audience at Balboa Theater had an enjoyable Ride.

The Rides tonight were: