Review: Boston and Starship rocked the ages in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - Five thousand late Boomers were knee-deep in the hoopla on Aug. 28 at the U.S. Cellular Center, reliving their youth with Boston and Starship.

It's pretty safe to say their children would be mortified to see how their parents were acting, rocking like it was 1969, '79 or '89 to three hours of nonstop classics.

The bands still are recording, too, and introduced us to the hard-rocking social commentary of 'Technicolor Black and White” from Starship's 2013 disc, 'Loveless Fascination,” and Boston's otherworldly, all-instrumental 'Last Day of School” from the 2013 album, 'Life, Love & Hope.”

Oftentimes, opening bands get polite applause while people trickle in, grab a beer and chat with their friends. Not this night. Starship landed right on time, launching into an hour of music from all of its incarnations: Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship, with Mickey Thomas at the helm.

Man, can he wail. He's 64 now - an age and era when a lot of other stars pull back from the high notes and pitch their hits in lower keys. Not Thomas. He jumps into a time machine and rockets his voice into the stratosphere on every song.

So many Starship intros were instantly recognizable, from 'Layin' it on the Line” and 'Jane” to the encore of 'Find Your Way Back.”

So many memorable moments filled the spaces in between. John Roth ripped through every guitar solo, adding an edge even to ballads like 'Sara” and 'Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” giving his dentist nightmares on the latter by plunking the guitar strings with his teeth. Several fifty-something couples grabbed their partners on those slower songs and danced in the aisles much better than we did at prom.

Vocalist Stephanie Calvert, clad in black from head to toe, cast her spell over the arena with Jefferson Airplane's trippy signature hit 'White Rabbit,” which segued seamlessly into 'Somebody to Love.” Calvert and Thomas earlier joined forces to power through 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.”

The musical highlight came right before the encore with megahit anthem, 'We Built This City.” Starship built up a frenzy that kept spinning through Boston's two-hour hit parade.

Far from 'just another band out of Boston,” this rock 'n' roll band blazed a trail for what longtime guitarist Gary Pihl calls something he'd never heard before - a combination of guitars, harmonies and high notes that was 'so unique at the time.” It still sounds fresh and crystal clear, channeled through amps and electronics developed by founder Tom Scholz, who tears up the keyboards as easily as guitars. At 67, he has a lean, rangy look akin to Jagger, who's also still rocking hard, making it all look easy.

He blazed through 'Smokin',” the flip side to Boston's first single, 'More Than a Feeling.” As a cool little special effect, smoke began rolling from the keyboards as Scholz cranked up the heat.

True to form, the songs are heavily guitar-driven, giving Scholz and Pihl plenty of moments to shine, as well as Kimberley Dahme on bass, guitar and vocals, and Tracy Ferrie on bass. Ferrie gave us a playful power punch, twirling his bass in every direction at the end of 'Long Time.”

Boston pulled out all the stops on special effects, with a three-segment backdrop that served as live video screen and spaceship 'windshield,” making me just a little motion-queasy as images soared through space, over mountains, plains and deserts, plunging into the sea.

Lead singer Tommy DeCarlo takes his voice to impossible heights, wrapping his style flawlessly over the lyrics the fans knows so well. An especially thrilling moment came at the end of 'Feelin' Satisfied,” when the instrumentals ground to a halt so all the singers could join in a splendid a cappella ending. No auto-tuning needed here.

Pulse-pounding, blistering sounds rocked all the songs, from 'Peace of Mind,” 'Cool the Engines” and 'Don't Look Back” to the gut-busting 'Walk On” medley featuring 'American Idol” Season 9 finalist Siobhan Magnus. She's awesome to behold screaming her way through a tough-as-nails medley, but if she's not careful, she's going to burst her pipes and trash her vocal cords.

The ballads - 'Amanda” and 'More than a Feeling” - were as lush and gorgeous as the rest of the concert was wild and wonderful, right up to the final licks of 'Party.”

The entire event was a party from beginning to end, letting all the middle-agers morph into teenagers again.