John Sebastian - Rockefeller's, Houston, TX, 7-24-1983

Here's something new to me, so it goes straight to the top of the pile of music I post here. I think John Sebastian is a very talented musician, especially due to the many hit songs he wrote for his band the Lovin' Spoonful in the 1960s. However, I wasn't looking for any bootleg concert by him until I stumbled across this one the other day.

The first thing to note is that it's an acoustic show. I'm always a big fan of acoustic music, and it's great to hear his songs in a stripped back format. (He used a drum machine to create a basic beat on one song, "Tar Beach," but it's tastefully done.) 

The second thing to note is that the sound quality is fantastic. It seems a stash of soundboard recordings from this venue, Rockefeller's, in Houston, Texas, has come to light recently. I'm writing this in December 2021, and this particular concert was first posted on-line in June 2021. Some other concerts by other artists at this venue have been posted also with similar sound quality, and I hope many more will follow.

This concert is actually a compilation of an early show and a late show that he did on the same night. Apparently, the audience was rather small, even for the venue, with about 100 people there. But it seems the vast majority stayed for both shows, so the vast majority of the songs he did were different. The only songs I haven't included from the late show because they also were played in the early show are: "Welcome Back," "Red-Eye Express," "Darlin' Be Home Soon," and "Daydream."

I made a few audio adjustments. Sometimes, soundboard recordings capture what's happening on stage to the exclusion of almost all crowd noise, and that's the case here. It's strange to have the songs generally end with silence, so I greatly boosted what little audience applause there was. The audience is still on the quiet side, but at least there's a decent amount now. I also boosted the volume of the comments he made between songs, which were much quieter than his singing during songs.

There were problems with two songs. The beginning of "Younger Girl" was missing. The version here because with the last ten seconds of the first verse. I cut that, to give it a less jarring beginning, starting with the song's chorus. A similar thing happened to "Stories We Could Tell." I gather the first verse was missing, since it's short and already begins with the chorus. I didn't make any changes there, but I'm noting that missing section. Happily, everything else is fine and nothing else seems to be missing, unless there was some banter before either or both of those two songs.

Sebastian had a strange roller coaster of a music career. He wrote and sang some big hits with the Lovin' Spoonful in the 1960s, including "Summer in the City," which was a number one hit in the US in 1966. Then his solo career started well in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most noted by his appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, where he made an impression in both the movie and album versions. But then he didn't release albums all that often, or tour much, and his career declined. So it was a big surprise when he had another number one hit in 1976 with "Welcome Back," the theme song to the "Welcome Back, Kotter" TV show. However, incredibly, the year after that huge hit, his record contract ended, and he was unable to get another one!

As a result of that, by the time this concert happened in 1983, he hadn't put out a new studio album or single for seven years. Furthermore, he wouldn't put out another album for another ten years. That said, although he did a lot of songs from his Lovin' Spoonful days, as well as his early solo career, he played a number of new songs. For instance, the songs "Tar Beach" and "Smokey Don't Go" would appear on his 1993 album, and the song "Where Ever You Are" would appear on his 2001 album. He also did a bunch of covers, including songs by Little Feat and Lightnin' Hopkins.

Unfortunately, two songs you won't find here are "Summer in the City" and "Do You Believe in Magic." They're the most famous Lovin' Spoonful songs, but he commented at one point during the concert that he didn't think they sounded good done in the solo acoustic format.

This concert is an hour and 43 minutes long.

01 talk (John Sebastian)
02 Mobile Line [Gonna Carry Me Away from the Bull Frog Blues] (John Sebastian)
03 talk (John Sebastian)
04 talk (John Sebastian)
05 Welcome Back [Theme from 'Welcome Back, Kotter'] (John Sebastian)
06 talk (John Sebastian)
07 Nashville Cats (John Sebastian)
08 talk (John Sebastian)
09 Smokey Don't Go (John Sebastian)
10 talk (John Sebastian)
11 She's a Lady (John Sebastian)
12 talk (John Sebastian)
13 Where Ever You Are (John Sebastian)
14 talk (John Sebastian)
15 The Junk Monster Song (John Sebastian)
16 talk (John Sebastian)
17 The Easter Bunny Song (John Sebastian)
18 talk (John Sebastian)
19 Tar Beach (John Sebastian)
20 talk (John Sebastian)
21 You're a Big Boy Now (John Sebastian)
22 Jug Band Music (John Sebastian)
23 Dixie Chicken (John Sebastian)
24 Younger Girl (John Sebastian)
25 Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind (John Sebastian)
26 talk (John Sebastian)
27 Milk Cow Blues (John Sebastian)
28 talk (John Sebastian)
29 Red-Eye Express (John Sebastian)
30 Daydream (John Sebastian)
31 talk (John Sebastian)
32 Woodstock Toot [Instrumental] (John Sebastian)
33 Darlin' Be Home Soon (John Sebastian)
34 My Gal (John Sebastian)
35 Lovin' You (John Sebastian)
36 talk (John Sebastian)
37 Rainbows All Over Your Blues (John Sebastian)
38 talk (John Sebastian)
39 My Baby's Walkin' with Someone New (John Sebastian)
40 talk (John Sebastian)
41 Younger Generation (John Sebastian)
42 talk (John Sebastian)
43 Looking for Something Better (John Sebastian)
44 talk (John Sebastian)
45 How Have You Been (John Sebastian)
46 talk (John Sebastian)
47 4 Eyes (John Sebastian)
48 talk (John Sebastian)
49 Wild about My Lovin' (John Sebastian)
50 Stories We Could Tell (John Sebastian)
51 I Had a Dream (John Sebastian)

https://www.imagenetz.de/dm49M

I couldn't find any good photos of Sebastian in concert in 1983. However, I did find one of him from 1984, so that's what I've used here.