One of my favorite singers from the Sevenites-Eighties came through Austin back in February, Mr. John Waite. Although I never like Bad English, his solo and Babys work has always overshadowed the supergroup’s mediocrity. John comes to Austin every several years and I kept missing him but this go round he played the relatively new 3Ten venue under the larger ACL/Moody Theater. The picture above is courtesy of my friend Ayako who also loves Eighties Pop-Rock music because she has been a fan of John’s since her upbringing in Japan. Nice to know how well good music transcends language barriers.
From the setlist below, you can see he stuck to the hits while he is touring to promote an acoustic collection of past work. John still doesn’t perform “Tears,” my personal favorite from his biggest album No Brakes. However, he does do “Change” from Ignition which also has a fantastic music video, back when MTV was entertaining to all and not nouveau riche programming. And yes, he did cover Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and closed with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta’ Love.” John’s voice remains awesome, resonates with emotion even though his trademark red hair is all gray and silver now.
