Hootie & the Blowfish reunion has a sold-out Blossom singing ‘Only Wanna Be With You’

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber and Jim Sonefeld aren’t giving away many secrets about an upcoming new Hootie & the Blowfish album — no title, no release date and especially no song names.

But if the scene at Blossom Music Center Friday night is any indicator, one of those songs had BETTER be named “Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder.”

A decade ago, the group that was the quintessential frat-rat band (if “Animal House” had had a house band in it, it would’ve been Hootie) from the University of South Carolina could barely fill the pavilion at Blossom. But on this perfect, cool, starlit Friday night in 2019, though, there wasn’t a blank seat in the pavilion . . . or an empty space on the lawn.

Now, to be fair, some of that absolutely has to do with Rucker’s highly successful solo career as a country artist. He’s had nine No. 1 songs on the country charts since his debut album “Learn to Live” in 2008, and there’s no reason to think he’s gonna disembark from that gravy train anytime soon.

And yet, neither is there any denying of the impact of the jangly hits that began with Hootie’s 1994 debut, “Cracked Rear View” and continued until the band went on its “we’re not splitting up” hiatus a decade ago.

So what we got at Blossom Friday night was the best of both worlds, a smattering of Rucker’s country, with songs like Alright,” “Wagon Wheel” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” and then a healthy helping of Hootie history with tunes like “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry” and, of course, “Only Wanna Be With You.”

Maybe we also got a bit more of Hootie history than we might even have expected. After all, the group started as a cover band — most bands do, just for the record — so hearing tunes like Radney Foster’s “Fine Line,” R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” and Tom Waits’ “I Hope I Don’t Fall in Love With You” made perfect sense, and were done to perfection.

There were two covers, though, that stood out, for different reasons: an interesting, “Hootie-fied” variation of Led Zeppelin’s “Hey Hey, What Can I Do,” sung in a key Robert Plant probably wouldn’t recognize and definitely couldn’t sink to; and a fun but mistake-laden version of Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally.” Producer and singer Don Dixon, one of Rucker’s heroes, joined the band on vocals and it was clearly a case of non-existent rehearsal.

Not that it mattered. “Mustang Sally,” a barroom staple for classic rock cover bands and a frequent addition to old Hootie setlists, is one of those songs that “serious” musicians (i.e. snobs) tend to reject, which to me is to me is pretty stupid. Every time it’s played, people dance and sing along, whether you’re in a sweaty biker bar or playing for 20,000 at a beautiful amphitheater like Blossom. You gotta remember: You’re playing for the fans, not for yourself, and you have to give Rucker and his bandmates credit for recognizing that.

Aiding the four original members of the band were touring musicians Gary Greene, who has been with the group since “Cracked Rear View” as a drummer, percussionist and guitarist; guitarist and fiddler Garry Murray, who is part of Rucker’s country entourage; and multi-instrumentalist Peter Holsapple, who reprised the acoustic guitar part he actually created for Michael Stipe and R.E.M. on “Losing My Religion.”

The additional musicians added a little depth and excitement to the stage, and it was needed, because the band was facing a pretty daunting task in trying to match, much less top, opening act Barenaked Ladies.

It’s a mistake to think of the “boys from Toronto” as the authors of novelty songs, like the theme for “The Big Bang Theory” and “If I Had $1,000,000.” The four members — lead singer Ed Robertson, keyboardist and guitarist Kevin Hearn, bassist Jim Creegan and drummer Tyler Stewart — definitely go at their music and their stage show with an eye towards humor.

But they’re also crackerjack musicians and singers, able to shift from rap to pop in a single bound . . . and do it in such a way as to make you laugh and THEN realize how good what you just heard was. It’s kind of like the clowns at the “Ice Capades.” They make you think they can’t skate, but their on-rink antics take skills that would try Scott Hamilton.

If the show had ended after the Ladies’ hourlong set, it still would’ve been money well spent. But combining that with nearly two hours of Hootie? Even if you DID have $1,000,000, you couldn’t buy a better concert.

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