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FARRENHEIT
Kowloon Concert Series - Saugus, MA.,USA, 20 September 2007

The veteran rock trio and Boston home­town favorite FARRENHEIT, featuring Charlie Farren on guitars and vocals, David Hull on bass and vocals and 'Muzz' on drums, invaded the Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus, MA last Friday night as the last installment of Ernie Back, Jr.'s "Music Drives Us" Summer Concert Series.

To coincide with the event FARRENHEIT also officially announced the plan to release their first album of new material in nearly 15 years, celebrating the announcement by giving out free CD-single copies of their first song from the new project called 'Labor Of Love'.

The show kicked in and the band sounded great, blazing through several FARRENHEIT-favorites including the rockin¹ show­opener 'America Rocks', 'Bad Habit', 'Shine' and the aforementioned new cut 'Labor Of Love'.

The sound was clear and bright with tight arrangements, leaving the trio sounding as if they had never stopped playing together to begin with.

Either that or I was in a time machine dialed back to MTV circa 1987, as I heard the band kick into their biggest single 'Fool In Love', with Hull providing pristine backing vocals behind Farren's soulful leads and smooth rhythm guitar.

Photo: Joe Milliken

It was at this point the band invited old friend James Montgomery on stage to sing some backing vocals for the down­and­dirty 'Talk Dirty'.

'James Montgomery is another friend - I've known James for 25 years,' Farren stated.

'David Hull plays bass in James' excellent blues band. So it was fun to have James join us onstage for a song.'

Hull and Muzzy then took a break as Charlie performed a mini, solo­acoustic set, complete with microphone stand taken to floor level for added intimacy and acoustics.

Solo ­ Charlie was so soulful and smooth, gliding through the title track from his latest solo release Old & Young, a track written with good­friend Barry Goudreau (of Boston fame, who was also in the audience enjoying the show) called 'Nobody's Somebody' and fan­favorites 'Deja Blue' ) from Charlie's solo album of the same name) and 'Goofy Boy'.

Upon Hull and Muzzy's return to the stage, the rhythm duo kicked into a pulsating jam­run, as Hull simply drove to the deepest bottom with his fat­sounding 5­string bass, ripping and rollicking through a fantastic solo that featured both nimble­finger techniques and guitar­picking prowess.

After another FARRENHEIT classic 'Lost In Loveland', one of my favorites, the encore featured three tracks that quite frankly, this reviewer was most waiting for, when the band kicked into 'Listen To The Rock', 'I've Got The Rock N' Rolls Again' and 'East Coast, West Coast', taken from Farren's and Hull's time with Aerosmith's Joe Perry and his solo band The Joe Perry Project.

Never having the opportunity to witness The Project back in the early 80's, seeing Charlie and the band rip into these songs was certainly the next best thing.

It was indeed the perfect show ending. That and getting to shake hands and get autographed chat with the band after the show. Don¹t tell anyone, but I also 'borrowed' one of Charlie¹s guitar picks and a set list off the stage!

To learn more about Charlie Farren and the upcoming FARRENHEIT CD release release visit www.charliefarren.com

Review by Joe Milliken

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