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The Zombies played 'Odessey & Oracle,' new songs & more at The Concert Hall (pics & setlist)

photos by P Squared

The Zombies

Halfway through Side Two, during the Zombies’ first complete New York concert rendition of their 1968 studio masterpiece, Odessey and Oracle, singer Colin Blunstone summed up the gently enchanting durability of that record and his band’s gift for resurrection in the bright, marching glow of “This Will Be Our Year.” In an improbably feathery tenor for a man who recently turned 70, Blunstone crooned the title chorus with the other surviving, original members of the group to his right: keyboard player Rod Argent, bassist Chris White and drummer Hugh Grundy. “This will be our year,” Blunstone sang, “took a long time to come.”

…”Care of Cell 44″ was a jaunty delight ringed with shadows — a relationship torn apart by prison; “Maybe After He’s Gone” was devastated pining, Blunstone’s voice hanging like stranded devotion in the falling-harmony chorales. “Brief Candles” seesawed between plaintive intimacy and arch, British-Beach Boys grandeur, with Argent, White and Blunstone each taking a verse, against nothing more than Argent’s baroque piano, before the payoff chorus. In “Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914),” Argent and White evoked harrowing carnage with striking minimalism: Argent on an antique pump organ and White on vocals, not quite on pitch and a little back from his mic, perfectly capturing the shy horror of a teenager in the trenches. [Rolling Stone]

Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent have been leading their own version of The Zombies for a while now, but for their current US tour they’re reunited with surviving original members Chris White and Hugh Grundy. They also had Darian Sahanaja, who played with them on their 40th anniversary tour and helped assemble Brian Wilson’s 2004 version of Smile. It’s Colin, Rod, Chris and Hugh’s first US tour together in five decades, and the first time ever that they’re playing 1968’s stone cold classic Odessey & Oracle front to back on our shores. The tour hit NYC on Friday (10/9) at The Concert Hall at New York Society for Ethical Culture, which the Rolling Stone review quoted above also called “absolutely triumphant.”

In addition to playing Odessey & Oracle in full, the tour was in support of the band’s new album Still Got That Hunger, which was released via The End Records the day of the NYC show. They played some of that too, with Blunstone and Argent being joined by their current lineup (Tom Toomey, Jim Rodford and Steve Rodford). If you haven’t heard that new album yet, you can check out the full stream below.

More pictures and The Zombies’ setlist from NYC, also below…

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The Zombies – NYC 10/9/15 Setlist (via)
Set 1:
I Love You
Can’t Nobody Love You (Solomon Burke cover)
I Want You Back Again
Moving On
Edge of the Rainbow
Tell Her No
You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me / Bring It On Home to Me
Maybe Tomorrow
New York
Caroline Goodbye (Colin Blunstone song)
Chasing the Past
Hold Your Head Up (Argent cover)
She’s Not There

Set 2 (“Odessey and Oracle” album in entirety):
Care of Cell 44
A Rose for Emily
Maybe After He’s Gone
Beechwood Park
Brief Candles
(>)
Hung Up on a Dream
Changes
I Want Her She Wants Me
This Will Be Our Year
Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914)
Friends of Mine
Time of the Season
She’s Not There