NOTE: All photos are copyright of Dean Keim 2025
The Doobie Brothers threw a delightfully enchanting reunion show and release party for their new album Walk This Road in the intimately cozy venue Irving Plaza, and they left a lucky bunch of their diehard fans floating on air. This is the first album to feature the “classic lineup” in its entirety performing together in the studio, and the first disc to have Michael McDonald back as a full-time member for almost 45 years. The Doobies have been a mainstay of the classic rocker scene since way back in 1970 when vocalists and guitarists Patrick Simmons and Tom Johnston formed the group and tore up the Northern California landscape with a blend of country, funk, and soul while certainly channeling some of the sounds bands of the time from that area like Creedence Clearwater Revival and Sly and the Family Stone. They became especially big with the biker scene, and it didn’t take long for them to score a major label deal with Warner Brothers, and they quickly began to score big hits with lots of crossover appeal. By 1975, their primary frontman Johnston had to leave the band due to medical problems largely due to the stress of touring, and they brought in a Steely Dan studio member and keyboardist Michael McDonald to help supplement the singing, and it took very little time for his cool jazz sounds and uniquely bewitching harmonic voice to take over and kick the band into another level of massive commercial success. In 1979, guitarist John McFee came in and helped fill in the guitar-riffing sound as a new member, but the band broke up a short time later after a big farewell tour in 1982. Nonetheless, there were multiple reunions that followed, like in the late 80’s, but by the mid 90’s the band was regularly regrouping. Michael McDonald went on to a rather successful solo career, but he did sometimes appear with his old band on stage, including a big reunion tour in 2019, but now the Doobies have a new album featuring all these great frontmen together, and they seem poised to really rock out with some real cool grooves.
This was an unexpectedly small show for a band that is used to far larger arena-sized venues, but this much smaller gig was clearly a gift to about a thousand of their most cherished fans as well as a warm-up to a much larger stadium tour that will commence this summer at large local outdoor stages like the PNC Bank Arts Center and Jones Beach Theater. For this trip around the world, Johnston, Simmons, McDonald, and McFee are joined by bassist John Cowan who’s been with the band since the early 90’s, Marc Russo who has been their sax player since the late 90’s, as well as more recent accompaniments: drummer Ed Toth and percussionist Marc Quiñones. They shoved a lot of musicians and instruments on this snug-fitting stage, and they also packed a lot more sound in this historic venue. Irving Plaza was turn of the century building that once served as part of a hotel, a Yiddish playhouse, then a Polish Veterans Center, before becoming a rock venue in the 1970’s. The Doobies have played here before when they wanted to surprise people with a little pop-up show for the fans but this particular carried more weight due to the expansive lineup.
They opened with their swinging cover of the soul classic “Take Me in Your Arms” from their 1975 Stampede album, then broke into a couple of funky deep cut songs from the pop breakthrough album Minute By Minute from 1977. They then played a couple from their new album before breaking into road tripping classics like “Rockin’ Down the Highway” and “Keeps You Runnin’.” A big show-stopper for me was an early tune called “Without You” from their 1973 album The Captain and Me, starring a killer guitar-riffing jam with Simmons, Johnston and McFee all gathered at the front of the stage and Russo joining for some extra flavor. They did have a middle section with a few more new songs, but they cranked out the hits for the last third of the show with classics like their killer covers of “Jesus Is Just Alright” and “What a Fool Believes” and epic originals like “Long Train Runnin’” and “China Grove.” Their encore really pleased the zealots in the packed house with their country hoedown “Black Water” that had everyone singing along, which was followed by a crazy-cool sax-heavy jazz improv of the “Amazing Grace” hymn, proceeding McDonald’s master street-fighting theme “Takin’ It to the Streets.” They ended with one of the best feel-good groove-jams ever recorded called “Listen to the Music.” A lot of hay has been made of the resurgence of the so-called “Yacht Rock” sound in recent years, but I contend their sound is far more enriching and timeless than the genre title implies and I can’t wait to jam out with them again this Summer!
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