The 2019 Happy Together Tour LIVE! at BergenPAC
By: Spotlight Central
Tags: New Jersey, Concerts, 60s Music, Music, Rock

By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery

It’s a packed house at Englewood, NJ’s BergenPAC this June 18, 2019 evening for the tenth anniversary edition of the Happy Together concert tour.

As we wait for the show to begin, we chat with several concertgoers, all here to enjoy a live performance by six of the top pop artists of the 1960s and ’70s including The Cowsills, The Classics IV, The Buckinghams, The Union Gap’s Gary Puckett, Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night, and The Turtles.

Says Donna from Middlesex, “I’ve done three years of Happy Together tours, and this is the third time I’m seeing this year’s show. It’s nostalgic, and I really like it because the show moves so quickly and the performers get all of their hits in.”

Amy from Jersey City agrees adding, “This is my fifth show of this tour. After I saw it in Morristown, NJ, I liked it so much I went online at 1am to buy tickets for the Westbury, NY show. It’s just so rejuvenating — the audience is into it, there are good vibes everywhere, and it makes you feel like you’re 16 again. Plus, it’s hard to pick a favorite artist, because they’re are all so good.”

Exclaims Shelly from Greenwich CT, “These shows are like potato chips — you can’t have just one. This is my first of three shows this tour, but last year, I saw the show eight times.”

Comments Herb from Montvale, “We’ve seen the Happy Together Tour five years in a row. I love it for the memories and the music. As the announcer, Shadoe Stevens, says at the beginning of each show, ‘Just think of the best time you ever had, multiply it by 1000, and then double it’ — the show is that much fun.”

Herb’s wife, Arleen, agrees adding, “At some concerts we’ve gone to, the singers have run out of steam, but never on the Happy Together Tour. Here, you get the best of each group. There isn’t just one ‘star’ — everyone is equal. They all sing well and the sound is so good, it makes you feel good.”

Before the show starts, we also take a moment to chat with several of the Happy Together Tour performers.

Explains The Buckinghams’ Carl Giammarese, “This is the 10th anniversary of the Happy Together Tour. The first tour was in 1984 and had Gary Puckett, Spanky and Our Gang’s Spanky McFarlane, The Association, and The Turtles. Then, in 1985, they had The Buckinghams, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Grass Roots, and The Turtles. Ten years ago they started doing tours every year. Altogether, The Buckinghams have been on the 2010, ‘11, ‘12, ‘14, and ‘15 tours, and now we’re on the 2019 tour which has a total of 53 shows.”

Exclaiming, “It’s been great — we love the fans and the response we get,” Giammarese reveals, “We’re in Jersey five times on this tour, and Jersey fans are some the best fans anywhere — they are very dedicated to this music. We’ve been up and down the Jersey Turnpike from New Brunswick to Ocean City, and were having a lot of fun. It’s a great lineup this year — and Ron Dante is doing an especially great job filling in for Howard Kaylan of The Turtles.”

Notes Ron Dante, “I’m honored and blessed to be singing with The Turtles. It was a gift to be in The Archies, and now I get to sing The Turtles’ songs — they’re great songs.”

Adding, “I enjoy performing with Mark Volman,” Dante notes, “We mesh together really well. He’s the comedy, and I’m the straight man,” before joking, “He’s Jerry Lewis and I’m Dean Martin!”

Tom Garrett, lead singer of The Classics IV, tells us, “This is our first time on the tour. It’s awesome — we’re having a great time! To be invited is such an honor, and to be performing with people like Carl Giammarese, Chuck Negron, and the rest is unbelievable — they are all such great artists and great people. It keeps you young.”

Lastly, we chat with Chuck Negron, former lead singer of Three Dog Night, who reveals, “I’m having a ball — it’s so nice to be singing with this tour. I’m having a lot of fun; I respect these musicians and I’m so honored to be a part of the group — it’s really unbelievable.”

Inside the BergenPAC auditorium, announcer Shadoe Stevens’ pre-recorded voice can be heard counting down, “4 minutes… 3… 2… 1… 30 seconds…” before the lights dim and the members of the Happy Together band — Barry Waller on bass, Chris Camilleri on drums, Manny Focarazzo on keyboards, and musical director Godfrey Townsend on guitar — take the stage and the show begins.

Up first are The Cowsills — siblings Susan, Paul, and Bob Cowsill — who open tonight’s show with a buoyant rendition of their catchy ’67 hit, “The Rain, The Park, and Other Things” (aka “The Flower Girl”), as images of flowers dance onscreen behind them.