Remember Jones will perform Joe Cocker’s “Mad Dogs & Englishmen” album at upcoming shows in Deal, New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere.
It was March 1970. The ’60s were barely over. The Beatles had not yet broken up. And Joe Cocker was looking forward to taking some time off before another summer tour.
No such luck. A tour had been booked without his knowledge, and the shows had to go on. He asked Leon Russell to put together a backing group, and Russell did it, quickly. It was a big, scruffy powerhouse of a band, with three drummers, three horn players and 10 backing vocalists. Counting a small film crew and the rest of the entourage, 43 people hit the road together, calling themselves Mad Dogs & Englishmen.
Cocker’s live double album Mad Dogs & Englishmen (recorded at the Fillmore East in New York) was released later that year, and became his only U.S. Top 10 album. With hard-chugging songs such as “The Letter,” “Delta Lady,” “Sticks and Stones” and “Feelin’ Alright,” it remains an exciting listen; you can feel the onstage chaos, and the inspiration.
Tickets go on sale March 3 for Remember Jones’ “Mad Dogs & Englishmen” shows.
Remember Jones, who has paid tribute to that album and tour in the past, will do so again this year with a 20-piece band at six 50th anniversary shows, including the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal, April 14-15; the Gramercy Theatre in New York, April 19; and City Winery in Philadelphia, April 28. Tickets for these four shows — as well as dates in Bethel, N.Y., and Essex, Vt. — go on sale at 10 a.m. March 3, with more shows possibly to be added later.
Shows will include all of the album’s songs as well as songs performed on the tour but not included the album (though added to a 2005 deluxe edition) such as covers of The Beatles’ “Let It Be” and The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Darlin’ Be Home Soon.”
The tour will feature The Horn Section, which is currently featured on Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew’s Remain in Light Tour (coming to the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, March 5), as well as an eight-person choir.
For the Deal and New York shows, VIP tickets will include an extra performance by the band, before doors open. And in Deal, VIP ticket-holders will sit on the stage throughout the entire concert.
For more information, visit rememberjones.com.
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