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Willie Nelson, Tony Bennett, others show it’s not just rock at the Kirby

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Kirby Center draws admiration in entertainment industry

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Narrowing the list of the greatest rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll concerts at the Kirby Center over the past 30 years is daunting, considering the Wilkes-Barre theater has booked some of the biggest names in rock since its launch in 1986.</p><p>Those names include Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers Band, all of whom graced the stage in the Kirby&#8217;s first six years. Blues artist B.B. King, who had an undeniable influence on rock music, also played several shows in the 1990s and 2000s.</p><p>Not to be overshadowed by days passed, the theater&#8217;s administration continues to book some of the biggest names in the genre today.</p><p>The first rock show at the Kirby was performed by Chuck Berry on Oct. 19, 1986. At the time, Berry, 60, had just become a member of the first induction class at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.</p><p>In a Times Leader article from Oct. 20 of that year, Dave Janoski wrote, &#8220;Berry played for more than an hour, mixing classics like &#8220;Roll Over Beethoven&#8221; and &#8220;Johnny B. Goode&#8221; with several old blues standards &#8230; Berry&#8217;s short but spirited show left the vocal audience of young and old satisfied &#8230; proving that if you like rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll, you&#8217;ve got to like Chuck Berry.&#8221;</p><p>Cocker appeared at the Kirby on Oct. 7, 1989, and again on Feb. 13, 2005. Perhaps the most celebrated cover artist of all time, Cocker was known for soulful versions of other artist&#8217;s songs.</p><p>After the 1989 show &#8212; where the sandpaper-voiced singer delivered stylized renditions of the Beatles&#8217; &#8220;With A Little Help From My Friends&#8221; and Traffic&#8217;s &#8220;Feelin&#8217; Alright,&#8221; as well as his new original &#8220;When The Night Comes&#8221; &#8212; the Times Leader called Cocker &#8220;a truly legendary solo rock performer&#8221; and said, &#8220;He showed his Wilkes-Barre audience that the glitz of today&#8217;s glam-rock isn&#8217;t needed to put on a good rock show.&#8221;</p><p>Kevin Severnak, 53, of Forty Fort, said it was &#8220;an exceptional show&#8221; in which Cocker delivered a memorable interpretation of Randy Newman&#8217;s &#8220;You Can Leave Your Hat On.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He played for a long time, and the band went into this long jam session while Cocker took a break,&#8221; Severnak said. &#8220;Then they did something like six encore tunes after that.&#8221;</p><p>Two years after Cocker visited for the first time, Bob Dylan brought his enigmatic presence to the Kirby Center. His sold-out performance on Nov. 15, 1991, was rife, in typical Dylan form, with new arrangements of his classic hits.</p><p>Times Leader correspondent Brian Turner wrote that the folk icon played a &#8220;boogie shuffle version of &#8216;Maggie&#8217;s Farm&#8217; &#8221; and a &#8220;You&#8217;ve Got to Serve Somebody&#8221; that became &#8220;a swamp stomp.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The crowd loved it all, and the 50-year-old performer, under dim lights through the set, seemed to have a good attitude as well,&#8221; Turner wrote.</p><p>Dylan returned in 1992 and 1994, although his first performance brought the largest crowd, 1,843 people, of the three shows.</p><p>Kirby Center Executive Director Will Beekman attended the &#8216;94 show, the only time he was inside the theater before being hired in the marketing there department in 2010.</p><p>&#8220;He played two sets &#8212; the first acoustic and the second electric,&#8221; Beekman said. &#8220;The acoustic set was amazing. When he returned &#8230; he went full electric, and while it was still very cool to see, it was less enjoyable for me. That being said, it goes down as one of the most memorable concerts I&#8217;ve ever seen, and the ticket stub sits in my office to this day.&#8221; </p><p>Doug Wolfe, of Wilkes-Barre Township, said he considers the <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/features/575327/peach-festival-in-scranton-celebrates-gregg-allman-on-day-two" target="_blank">Allman Brothers&#8217;</a> show on March 8, 1992, to be among the best he&#8217;s seen at the Kirby. During that era, original guitarist Dickey Betts dueled with slide expert Warren Haynes.</p><p>Wolfe said he recalls an electrifying &#8220;Statesboro Blues&#8221; to open the set, along with acoustic versions of &#8220;Midnight Rider&#8221; and Robert Johnson&#8217;s &#8220;Come On In My Kitchen.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;They played an amazing show,&#8221; Wolfe said. &#8220;The acoustic set was a highlight, and when they went back into electric, I know they&#8217;d play &#8216;(In Memory Of) Elizabeth Reed.&#8217; &#8221;</p><p>Joe Nardone Sr. booked and promoted the first of B.B. King&#8217;s performances at the Kirby and considers King among the best to play there.</p><p>After that show on May 27, 1990, Times Leader correspondent Jeff Walsh called King the &#8220;king of blues&#8221; and said the songs &#8220;Caledonia,&#8221; &#8220;Nobody Loves Me But My Mother&#8221; and a show-stopping &#8220;The Thrill Is Gone&#8221; were among the focal points.</p><p>Other notable acts to perform at the Kirby include Joan Jett in 1989, Jethro Tull in 2001, and David Crosby and Graham Nash in 2007, but two of the most memorable in recent history include <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/features/490876/chris-cornell-captivates-audience-at-f-m-kirby-center-in-wilkes-barre" target="_blank">Chris Cornell</a> in 2015 and Joe Walsh this year.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre-based musician Aaron Fink attended the Cornell and Walsh shows and ranks them among his favorites to play at the Kirby.</p><p>&#8220;In the last couple years, the artists they&#8217;ve been getting are top notch,&#8221; Fink said.</p><p>Cornell delivered a 28-tune songbook that featured his solo work as well as songs from his days with Soundgarden and Audioslave.</p><p>&#8220;Cornell has reached legendary status, in my opinion,&#8221; Fink said. &#8220;I think he&#8217;s one of America&#8217;s great songwriters and one of America&#8217;s greatest singers. He tore it up. His voice was killer, and it seemed effortless for him. His catalog was amazing. It was great song after great song.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Renowned singer and songwriter Chris Cornell plays a solo acoustic show at the Kirby Center in 2015. His setlist included &#8216;Can&#8217;t Change Me&#8217; and &#8216;Black Hole Sun,&#8217; along with a riveting cover of Prince&#8217;s &#8216;Nothing Compares 2 U.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL101915ChrisCornell2-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Renowned singer and songwriter Chris Cornell plays a solo acoustic show at the Kirby Center in 2015. His setlist included &#8216;Can&#8217;t Change Me&#8217; and &#8216;Black Hole Sun,&#8217; along with a riveting cover of Prince&#8217;s &#8216;Nothing Compares 2 U.&#8217; </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKaeg | Times Leader  </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_dylan-stub-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Will Beekman's ticket stub from the Bob Dylan concert at the Kirby Center in 1994. It was the only concert Beekman attended at the Kirby before he was hired in the marketing department there in 2010. Beekman has been the venue's executive director since 2015.</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_dylan-stub-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Will Beekman's ticket stub from the Bob Dylan concert at the Kirby Center in 1994. It was the only concert Beekman attended at the Kirby before he was hired in the marketing department there in 2010. Beekman has been the venue's executive director since 2015.</caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKaeg | Times Leader  </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_ChuckBerry1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Chuck Berry performs during the first rock concert ever at the Kirby Center, on Oct. 19, 1986. He sang with his daughter Ingrid in front of a packed house. At the time, the 60-year-old rock pioneer already was in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_ChuckBerry1-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Chuck Berry performs during the first rock concert ever at the Kirby Center, on Oct. 19, 1986. He sang with his daughter Ingrid in front of a packed house. At the time, the 60-year-old rock pioneer already was in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. </caption2><photoCredit2>Fred A. Adams | Times Leader  </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_Joe_Cocker_ARTS_-1.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">Joe Cocker performed at the F.M. Kirby Center in 1989 and again, seen here, in 2005. Kevin Severnak of Forty Fort called the &#8216;89 performance &#8216;an exceptional show.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_Joe_Cocker_ARTS_-1.jpeg</photo3><caption3>Joe Cocker performed at the F.M. Kirby Center in 1989 and again, seen here, in 2005. Kevin Severnak of Forty Fort called the &#8216;89 performance &#8216;an exceptional show.&#8217; </caption3><photoCredit3>Don Carey | Times Leader  </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_bbking1_faa-1.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">The late B.B. King took the Kirby Center stage several times, including this performance on Feb. 2, 2003. Of King&#8217;s gig, Times Leader reporter Alan K. Stout wrote,&#8217;With his trusty Gibson &#8216;Lucille&#8217; in hand &#8230; he consistently fired off his thick, minimalist-style riffs and solos that have become his trademark.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_bbking1_faa-1.jpeg</photo4><caption4>The late B.B. King took the Kirby Center stage several times, including this performance on Feb. 2, 2003. Of King&#8217;s gig, Times Leader reporter Alan K. Stout wrote,&#8217;With his trusty Gibson &#8216;Lucille&#8217; in hand &#8230; he consistently fired off his thick, minimalist-style riffs and solos that have become his trademark.&#8217; </caption4><photoCredit4>Fred A. Adams | Times Leader  </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Matt Mattei</p><p>mmattei@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or Twitter @TLArts</p></shirttailMeta></div>

30 Rock: Over past 3 decades, Joe Cocker, B.B. King among Kirby highlights