Orpheum Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Can a two-Door model ride as well as the original four-Door?
That was the silly question Friday night at the Historic Orpheum Theatre in
Minneapolis when the Doors of the 21st Century, featuring original Doors
keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger, led a five-man band
through two hours of classic Doors material but no new material.
Without singer Jim Morrison and original drummer John Densmore, the Doors
of the 21st Century (D21C) were a pale imitation of the original, but it
hardly mattered to a near-capacity crowd that reveled in the surrealism of
seeing a once-groundbreaking band frozen in time.
Credit for this group's success goes almost entirely to vocalist Ian Astbury
of the Cult, who has the thankless task of mimicking Morrison, the late and
revered sex symbol and rock poet. Astbury has mined his natural baritone boom
for a great special effect of emulation. Opening with Break on Through,
Astbury took the stage in dark shades, his flowing dark hair cut Morrison-style,
parted in the middle to reveal a similarly brooding baby face. He pranced in
tight jeans and a button-down shirt half-untucked to reveal a large round belt
buckle and a most likely well-padded crotch.
Astbury offered the vocal similarity and some of the stage histrionics that
Morrison fans love but none of the poetic pretensions or drunken belligerence
that even Morrison's bandmates couldn't tolerate. The result was an
easy-listening version of the Lizard King: engaging yet aloof, entertaining
but unsurprising.
If only guitarist Krieger could have imitated his own former self as effectively.
On Moonlight Drive, Krieger's distinctly spooky bottleneck tone was colorless
and nondescript, lost in a loud sound mix. Later, his flamenco guitar solo on
Spanish Caravan was performed on an electrified solid body Spanish guitar
instead of a hollow acoustic. The result was a mushy flood of notes drowned in
reverb effects. He sounded more like the guitar roadie warming up the gear than
the master player he is.
Overall, D21C had no real interplay or improvisational urge, a key element of
the original Doors magic. Drummer Ty Dennis was square, hard and inexact,
forgetting changes and cues. For a band that prided itself on the sonic freedom
that came from having no full-time bassist, Friday's sound became overwhelmed by
pounding drums and rumbling bass guitar, the antithesis of the old bone-chilling
tones.
In fairness, the middle portion of the show featuring dark, thudding rockers
(Wild Child, Five to One) held up well: timelessly mysterious
music for these angry, uncertain times. Throughout the night, a steady barrage
of video images reinforced the message that "power corrupts, war is evil, nothing
has changed." Neither have the Doors, and Friday's crowd seemed to love that fact,
madly.
Jim Meyer (Freelance writer from Minneapolis)
Setlist
Break On Through
Love Me Two Times
Take It As It Comes
When The Music's Over
Moonlight Drive
Wild Child
Unknown Soldier
Not To Touch The Earth
Spanish Caravan
Five To One
The Changeling
20th Century Fox
LA Woman
Encore 1:
Riders On The Storm
Touch Me
Roadhouse Blues
Encore 2:
Light My Fire