“Magical!” Jefferson Starship LIVE! at the Newton Theatre
By: Spotlight Central
Tags: 80s Music, New Jersey, Concerts, Music, Rock

The band leaves the stage except for guitarist Jude Gold who is featured on a solo guitar performance of “Embryonic Journey.” While playing his open-tuned guitar, Gold impresses with his lightning fast finger picking. At times, he plays conventionally on the fingerboard, while at other times, he taps the guitar’s neck, inspiring cheers and applause from the crowd. Using his instrument’s whammy bar, he saws his hands across the strings and manipulates the guitar’s volume control to sound like a cello before holding up his instrument in a vertical manner and ending with glistening harmonics.

The crowd rises to its feet for this unique and impressive solo.

The rest of Jefferson Starship retakes the stage and Richardson enters with a black hood over her hair before mysteriously launching into Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 classic, “White Rabbit.” Audience members dance in their seats as Richardson knocks their socks off with her powerful performance singing the famous, “Go ask Alice, when she’s ten feet tall” chorus. When Richardson skillfully bounces her mic stand down to the ground with her foot and makes it ricochet right back up to her again, the crowd stands and cheers.



Asking, “Are you ready to rock and roll?” she and the group launch into Starship’s 1981 #1 hit, “We Built This City,” where Freiberg sings lead and Richardson harmonizes. The driving beat, flashing lights, and wailing guitar bring the crowd right back to the ’80s as the audience sings along on the ubiquitous “We built this city/We built this city on rock and roll” chorus.

After announcing, “Hey, New Jersey — do you want more?” Richardson dances around the stage, her hair covering her face, as she plays cowbell while Freiberg sings Jefferson Starship’s 1979 Top 20 hit, “Jane.” Effortlessly vocalizing straight from his soul, Freiberg hits notes both high and low with emotion and power while clearly enjoying himself as he sings, “Jane, you’re playin’ a game, playin’ a game, playin’ a game,” before ending with a wail.

The crowd stands and cheers as Richardson points to Freiberg and exclaims, “He wrote that song!”

One by one, Richardson introduces her fellow band members, and gives each a chance to solo on his instrument. When she gets to drummer Donny Baldwin, the entire group watches Baldwin solo with rapt attention and Gold even videorecords it on his cell phone from the side of the stage.

Then, Freiberg introduces Cathy Richardson asking, “How long have you been singing with us?” to which Richardson jokingly replies, “I’ve been singing with you since I got your records when I was 15!”

Disclosing that Richardson was personally chosen by Grace Slick to perform her music, Richardson acknowledges, “It’s not easy to stand in the shoes of a legend” before thanking the band for giving her the opportunity.

Lastly, she introduces Freiberg, revealing, “In a couple of months, he will be 81 years old.” Calling him, “A living legend — the best rock legend ‘rocktogenarian!’” — the audience stands and applauds for Freiberg.

The audience rocks out as Richardson and Jefferson Starship launch into the 1967 Jefferson Airplane classic, “Somebody to Love.”