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Tanglewood popular artists

Earth, Wind, & Fire at Tanglewood

June 18, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

Earth, Wind, & Fire, a band that practically embodies as many musical genres as Tanglewood’s Popular Artist Series represents, made its second appearance at the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra June 18, 2016. By scheduling them in between concerts by Dolly Parton and Brian Wilson, Tanglewood presented us the opportunity to enjoy a geographically inspired sampler of American music ranging from country, to city, to beach over a single weekend.

Earth, Wind & Fire at Tanglewood June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com
Earth, Wind, & Fire at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com

Maurice White and Philip Bailey form Earth, Wind, & Fire in 1971

Since their 1971 founding in Chicago by Maurice White and Philip Bailey, Earth, Wind, & Fire has scored six Grammies as a group and been inducted nto the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; founder White, who died in February, Bailey and several other members of the band also are in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. White’s brother Verdine is the group’s bassist, and at the other end of the sonic spectrum are the horn section, Gary Bias on saxophone, Bobby Burns, Jr. on trumpet, and Reggie Young on trombone. Besides all the oh-so-danceable funky music, straight-out R & B, beautiful harmonies and thrilling falsetto singing, EWF puts on a show for your eyeballs too with pulsating lights and streaming digital graphics. After this show, you would think the Koussevitsky Music Shed would need some down time, but that won’t happen until September!

Tanglewood photos Earth, Wind, & Fire concert

Light show Earth, Wind, & Fire concert at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Light show Earth, Wind, & Fire concert at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Percussion section Earth, Wind, & Fire concert at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Percussion section Earth, Wind, & Fire concert at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Lawn view Earth, Wind, & Fire concert at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Lawn view Earth, Wind, & Fire concert at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Soundboard, Earth, Wind, & Fire concert at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Soundboard, Earth, Wind, & Fire concert at Tanglewood, June 18, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.

About Tanglewood: box office, tickets, getting there, nearby hotels

Follow this link for Berkshires travel information, including public transportation within Berkshire county and Amtrak and Peter Pan bus schedules.
Berkshires hotelsFind hotels near Tanglewood with user reviews, check amenities, nearby attractions, availability and then book your room reservations at these lodging establishments through our partner, International Hotel Solutions (IHS), the leading provider of secure online hotel reservations.

Getting around the Tanglewood campus

The Tanglewood campus, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center comprises several hundred acres in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge. It is the location of the Koussevitsky Music Shed and Ozawa Hall, where hundreds of thousands attend concerts and a variety of events, including picnics. We always advise new visitors to arrive early and take their daily walking exercise wandering the beautiful Tanglewood grounds.

Here is a dynamic map of the Tanglewood grounds, with photos and information for such points of interest as Aaron Copland Library, Highwood Manor House, The Glass House, and The Lion’s Gate.

Dolly Parton at Tanglewood Pure & Simple

June 17, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

Dolly Parton opened the 2016 Tanglewood season on her Pure & Simple tour, attacting an impressive audience on a picnic-perfect June evening; watching her fans stream into the Koussevitsky Music Shed was the closest we’ll ever get to seeing a Mardi Gras parade in Lenox. In a show that lasted 2.5 hours and included 28 songs, she also told so many stories that you wish you’d brought along a stenographer. Dolly Parton emerged some fifty years ago onto a fairly cloistered country western scene which she helped bust loose into a dominate place in pop culture, becoming head of a global entertainment business while maintaining her charm, her artistic integrity, and her figure!

Dolly Parton at Tanglewood June 17, 2016 Pure & Simple tour.Photo; Dave Read, Berkshire Links
Dolly Parton at Tanglewood June 17, 2016 Pure & Simple tour.Photo; Dave Read, Berkshire Links
Dolly Parton at Tanglewood June 17, 2016 Pure & Simple tour.Photo; Dave Read, Berkshire Links
Dolly Parton plays harmonica at Tanglewood, June 17, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Dolly Parton at Tanglewood, June 17, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.
Dolly Parton and band at Tanglewood, June 17, 2016. Photo: Dave Read, BerkshireLinks.com.

Dolly Parton’s Pure & Simple tour

Ms. Parton’s Pure & Simple tour is organized around a CD, to be released in August, which contains a suite of love songs she wrote to celebrate her fiftieth wedding anniversary. Love seems to be Dolly Parton’s organizing principle, and much of her patter relates to her love of her own family, her childhood home in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, and then to the family all of us comprise. After that, she talks alot about her rhinestone costumes and her boobs. But perhaps the most remarkable thing she talked about is the Imagination Library, which she established in 1995 for the benefit of children in her childhood home, as a tribute to her illiterate father. Since then, it has given away 100,000,000 books, many to children.

Making up Dolly’s band were Richard Dennison, Tom Rutledge, and Kent Wells (and a drum machine) and besides displaying her beautiful vocal technique, Ms. Parton also played a half-dozen instruments, including banjo, which she played backwards on one number! Especially endearing was a medley of ’60s songs, including The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down, mentioning her affection for Levon Helm and The Band, and announcing that his daughter, the musician Amy Kelm, was in attendance.

Tony Bennett Lady Gaga throng swamps Tanglewood

July 1, 2015 Article by Dave Read

As Lady Gaga herself mentioned from the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood early in her concert with Tonay Bennett June 30, 2015, it didn’t rain! But a steady drizzle and dreary skies did prevail all day long as a vast crowd assembled, causing miles-long traffic jams and overwhelming the usually efficient parking protocol at Tanglewood. With an hour to go before 8 pm showtime, Hawthorne St. was reduced to a single-lane parking lot – all the way back up Old Stockbridge Rd. to Lenox Town Hall. Tanglewood reported the audience a sellout of 19,000.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga performing at Tanglewood, Tuesday, June 30, 2015 (Michael Blanchard)
Tanglewood law audience Tony Bennett Lady Gaga concert, June 30, 2015; photo:Dave Read
Tanglewood law audience Tony Bennett Lady Gaga concert, June 30, 2015; photo:Dave Read
Tanglewood law audience Tony Bennett Lady Gaga concert, June 30, 2015; photo:Dave Read

It seemed like a bigger audience than the 2012 James Taylor concert that included a guest appearance by Taylor Swift, but probably not equal to Taylor’s July 17, 2002 concert, with the Boston Pops, that set the Tanglewood attendacne record – 24,470, and which led to the B.S.O.’s agreement with the towns of Stockbridge and Lenox to cap ticket sales at 19,000.

Tony Bennett sings Cheek to Cheek with Lady Gaga

Altogether the concert included 31 songs in about two hours; duets included their grammy-winning Cheek to Cheek and Anything Goes, while Bennett did a set of Frank Sinatra songs, mentioning the Sinatra Centennial celebration later this year in Las Vegas. Ms. Gaga reminded us that Ole Blue Eyes called Bennett the greatest singer in the world. Besides all the costume changes and vamping, the highlight of her performance was a beautiful rendition of La Vie En Rose. They have taken the entertainment world by storm since teaming up a couple years ago, and this is no novelty act. Nearing 89, Tony Bennett simply sounds great – still. Nearing 30, Lady Gaga sure has chops, and it shouldn’t belong before she’s a great singer, too.

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