Photos: The Doobie Brothers bring the hits and more at Starlight

Chris Ortiz,
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The Doobie Brothers. // photo by Chris Ortiz

On Wednesday, June 14, Starlight Theater was blessed with none other than The Doobie Brothers, who were on tour celebrating their “50+ years” of being a band and welcoming back legendary keyboard player Michael McDonald into the mix.

The band delayed the start of the performance for an unknown reason by a half hour, but when they took the stage at 8pm, the nearly packed house was ready and waiting.

The band played an approximate hour and a half set, running through some of their favorites and a few covers like “I Heard it Through The Grapevine” before ending their show with the top hits that everyone in the audience wanted to hear, including “Jesus Is Just Alright,” “What A Fool Believes,” “Long Train Runnin’”, and “China Grove” before the band took a short break and came back with an encore that contained “Black Water,” “Takin’ It To The Street,” and “Listen to the Music.”

As the band played their final note—a cover of Steely Dan’s “Pretzel Logic”—the crowd cheered them on, begging for one more song, especially since McDonald was back, and sounded better than ever before.

I overheard one person saying while leaving that this had been “one of the best sounding concerts of [The Doobie Brothers] since the 80s.” I had not seen them then, but rather in the 1990s with my father at what was then named Sandstone, and I will say that the show did not disappoint.

Setlist
Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) (Kim Weston cover)
Here to Love You
Dependin’ on You
Rockin’ Down the Highway
Neal’s Fandango
You Belong to Me
Slack Key Soquel Rag
South City Midnight Lady
Clear as the Driven Snow
It Keeps You Runnin’
Eyes of Silver
I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Gladys Knight & the Pips cover)
Better Days
Real Love
Minute By Minute
Without You
Jesus Is Just Alright (The Art Reynolds Singers cover)
What A Fool Believes
Long Train Runnin’
China Grove
—
Black Water
Takin’ It to the Streets
Listen to the Music
Pretzel Logic (Steely Dan cover)

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