Concert Review
Carole King's oldies are goodies for Seattle crowd

By Mary Guiden
Special to The Seattle Times

MARK WILSON / GETTY IMAGES Carole King performs during the Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter in Boston last month. Her Seattle appearance was at Pier 62/63 on Friday.

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The singer-songwriter casually walked on stage and waved to the crowd before sitting down at the piano and breaking into song.

Still sporting her signature curly locks, now chin-length, King was decked out in a glittering lilac jacket. Her first tune was "Beautiful," a song that extols the benefits of having a positive outlook on life.

In a nod to modern-day feminism, King, now 62, talked about rewriting the lyrics to "Where You Lead," which was recently featured on "Gilmore Girls," a popular mother-daughter TV show on the WB network. "After 1970, women weren't following their men around, if you know what I mean," King said.

The New York-bred King — who sounds like a kinder, gentler version of Bette Midler — was accompanied by guitarist Rudy Guess and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Gary Burr, who has crafted songs for artists as diverse as Conway Twitty, Lynard Skynard and Ricky Martin.

King, Guess and Burr took to their guitars to play "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me," a Burr-written track made famous by pop-country singer Juice Newton in the 1980s.

Review Carole King, Friday night at Pier 62/63.

King joked about being part of a "fantasy wall of guitars, just like the Eagles," and the enthusiastic spirit of the musicians and infectious beat made listeners forget they were listening to a somewhat silly pop tune.

Most of the night's songs needed no introduction, including "It's Too Late," "So Far Away" and "I Feel the Earth Move." A medley of tunes played right before a 25-minute intermission had the crowd on its feet, cheering at the end.

With a focus on songs from the 1960s, King whipped through "Take Good Care of My Baby," "Go Away Little Girl," "One Fine Day" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"

Throughout the night, King stumped for environmental issues and encouraged the crowd to vote "whatever your party," but it was listening to that distinctively gravelly and still clear voice belting out the oldies that brought smiles to faces and had everyone singing along.

After performing "(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman," she closed out the night with a rockin' version of "(The) Loco-motion," looking voluptuous and sexy in tight jeans, strutting across the stage, swinging her hips and shaking those curly locks.

Mary Guiden: mkgseattle@aol.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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