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The Ocean Blue Setlist
Tour Dates
Sep 8 - Washington, DC @ Howard Theater
Sep 9 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Sep 29 - Philadelphia, PA @ Ardmore Theater Sep 30 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Neptune Festival Oct 6 - San Antonio, TX @ Sam’s Burger Joint Oct 7 - Houston, TX @ Numbers Oct 19 - Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern Oct 20 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Bag Oct 21 - Columbus, OH @ Natalie’s Grandview Music Hall Nov 10 - Miami, FL @ The Ground @ Club Space Nov 11 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Nov 16 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah Nov 17 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Nov 18 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Read More
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It is John Hughes month at the Parkway Theater and what better way to kick off the 80’s film series than a concert from The Ocean Blue.
When I walked into the theater The Smiths “This Charming Man” was playing through the speakers with bands like XTC, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Sundays and U2 to follow (music provided by DJ Jake Rudh of Transmission).
Local Twin Cities band The Hang Ups opened up the evening with “Top of Morning” from their 1996 album So We Go, which Chris Roberts of MPR claimed to be the soundtrack of urban bohemia in Minneapolis in the mid 90’s.
The Hang Ups formed in 1990 with Brian Tighe on vocals and guitar, Jeff Kearns on bass and Stephen Ittner on drums. (Ittner was not present at the show.)
Tighe joked it had been a massive undertaking already with only two dates completed. Already he felt tired. Maybe that’s why he launched into a new song, “Helicopter” to give himself a lift.
Although a 90’s band their sound has a feel from an earlier time, not the 80’s, but the 60’s. The local radio station The Current wrote a nice retrospective of their work in 2013, calling their music radiant, melodic, “… music with a kind of grace, lightness of touch and economy.” I also noticed a tinge of minor and at times discordant chords to give their songs a wistful note.
The Ocean Blue opened up their set with “Denmark” from their recently reissued album Davey Jones Locker.
From Hershey, Pennsylvania they formed in 1986 with David Schelzel on lead vocals and guitar, Bobby Mittan on bass and Oed Ronne on guitar and keyboards. (In 2000 Peter Anderson joined in on drums.)
Right out of high school they signed with Sire Records and released two hit albums The Ocean Blue in 1989 and Cerulean in 1991. Schelzel said he was influenced by The Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen, but I also hear Psychedelic Furs in many of their earlier songs.
Schelzel said he was the most nervous about this concert for he was playing in his hometown, he knew a lot of people in the crowd and everyone was seated.
So how did someone from the land of chocolate end up in the land of 10,000 Lakes?
Schelzel took a hiatus from music in his 30’s and went to law school at the University of Minnesota. He loved his time in the Twin Cities so much he decided to stay and become an Intellectual property lawyer. Still he has kept his toes in the musical waters, releasing albums through Korda Records, a music collective he formed with other like-minded musicians like Allison LaBonne of the Owls, Brian Tighe of The Hang Ups and Jim Ruiz.
Although the crowd was mostly seated throughout the evening, fans had no problem rising to dance to “Mercury” “Slide” and “Drifting, Falling,” a song that invited Tighe back on stage to play a saxophone solo, perhaps an ode to that sweet era of hit teenage comedies and cool dance music.
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The Ocean Blue |
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The Ocean Blue at the Parkway Theater, Minneapolis (03 Sep 2023) |
| dave ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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