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N'rG Rocks Scranton
Scranton Summer Fest - Lackawanna Little League Field, Scranton, PA, USA
Saturday night was the first of three Mark Farner and N'rG concerts which I will have the pleasure of attending. Pam & I left home around 10:00 am, to take the three hour trip to Scranton, PA. We were to meet John Gilbert and his wife Missy there. As John has relatives in Scranton, they were to already be there. I had called ahead of time to get directions to the Lackawanna Little League Park, where the annual summer festival is held at which Mark was scheduled to play.
We arrived there around 2:30 pm and saw that "The Kid", which is the name given to Mark's touring bus, was parked directly in the front and we could see that set-up was actively underway. As soon as we approached the gate we saw Harry, Mark's road manager, and hailed him. Harry directed us to one of the Little League Association people so we could buy our tickets and while we were buying the ticket, I asked him if he could direct us to a hotel, as we wanted to stay the night in Scranton. He did better than that and personally escorted us downtown to the Howard Johnson Motel, making sure to give us good directions back to the park. Pam & I really appreciate the helpful and friendly treatment we received from the Little League Association people.
After checking into the motel, I called John and Missy and made arrangements to go back to the park and meet up with them, as we wanted to get the best territory staked out that we could. I guess you can't get much better than directly in front of the stage, about 3 feet out and in the center. John was quite excited to see Mark Farner again as he had been in attendance at the legendary Grand Funk Railroad "Shea Stadium Concert" in 1971. I yelled up to Hubert, the N'rG drummer, who was busy setting up his gear and learned we had just missed Mark, but that he was to return back for the sound check at 3:30. There was concern on Harry's part as Paul and Lawrence had been delayed in route and Lawrence's luggage had been lost at the airport. Harry was pretty stressed out and, besides that, the sky had some ominous black clouds. Fortunately those clouds passed over us and I heard later that a few miles away there was a 30 minute down pour, which had missed us totally.
Mark, Paul and Lawrence still had not arrived when N'rG's "H-bomb" came down from the stage and batted the breeze with us for at least 45 minutes, telling us the story of how he met Mark and eventually hooked on as his drummer. Hubert is really quite friendly and really down to earth and really enjoys what he is doing. Finally, an older Cadllic pulls into the field and out pops Paul and Lawrence. With Mark close behind, the sound check soon got under way. By this time, a small contingency of Mark Farner fans had gathered to watch. I was comparing notes with two of them and learned that one of them was Rick Kriedlering from the Fan Club. Rick had posted the message with the location of this concert, as no one else had been able to find the information.
The sound check began and the band worked out the bugs, did some jamming and then Mark started singing some lyrics which were unfamiliar to me. Rick said he had talked to Mark recently and learned that this is to be one of the new songs to be included on the upcoming DVD. It was a great jam. Mark and H-bomb started a song and I immediately recognized it as "Rock and Roll American Style". They played the song all the way through and the small gathering of "hardcores" were whooping it up and cheering which seemed to please Mark. N'rG was ready to go.
It was about 5:15 pm and the warm up band still had to do it's sound check before going on at 7 PM. They were a local group called Main Offender and did a good job of putting out some excellent Classic Rock tunes. So while we were biding our time with "festival food" and chatting with various fans, I took the opportunity to purchase the N'rG t-shirt I had promised to get for a friend.
At 9:00 pm the event organizer came on stage and announced there would be a special presentation given to Mark Farner. The Mayor of Scranton presented Mark with a plaque commemorating their appreciation for his appearance and help in the Little League fund raising. The Mayor mentioned that the first record he ever bought was a Grand Funk Railroad record, and he was a huge fan.
N'rG kicked off with "Are You Ready" and the show was on it's way. By this time the crowd had grown to thousands, my guess 2,000+, and everybody was up for a rocking good time. There was a small set back when near the end of "Footstompin' Music" a power failure occurred. But things were quickly corrected and Mark launched into "Aimless Lady" as the crowd's energy continued to grow. Within two songs, all were standing and dancing to the hard rocking vibes of the N'rG Band. Mark performed all the favorites including "Feeling Alright", one of my favs, and "Creepin'". Mark and the band were hitting all cylinders and sounded great and Mark was playing some excellent lead guitar. All too soon the show ended with "Some Kind Of Wonderful" but the band was soon brought back on stage by the large volume of fan approval and did a three song encore which included "Rock And Roll American Style", which is a huge fan favorite. The show ended with "Closer To Home" and the band gathered at the front of the stage to the thunderous approval of the large "working class" Scranton crowd.
Over all this was perhaps the best I have seen theN'rG band play and Mark delivered another outstanding performance, staying for an additional one and a half to two hours signing autographs, until the last person in line had gotten his chance to have a few moments with a Rock and Roll Legend.