Concert Preview—

Mad Dog Joe Cocker Is Ready To Unleash The Blues At Waterbury’s Palace

By John Voket

WATERBURY — In 1976, as a high school sophomore, I watched with amazement as Joe Cocker performed “Feelin’ Alright” on Saturday Night Live. I had already come to know the English bluesman as much for his quirky onstage mannerisms as his powerful, gritty voice from multiple viewings of the Woodstock movie.

But on that night, comedian John Belushi joined Cocker on the stage at SNL mirroring Cocker’s stage movements with eerie precision. At the time, according to his bio, Cocker was nearly $1 million in debt to A&M Records, and struggling with alcoholism.

In a recent interview with The Newtown Bee, now more than 33 years later, Cocker had no problems recalling the evening and the days leading up to his duet with Belushi, with complete clarity.

“By then it was pretty well documented back in the ‘70s I was pretty well out of it. I was pretty heavily drinking,” Cocker said. “And I remember this producer Geordie Hormel in LA asks me, ‘Did you see this guy Belushi doing an impersonation of you? It’s disgusting.’ And I hadn’t seen it. But pretty soon everybody was coming up to me being real negative and saying how bad it was.”

But even after a few too many, Cocker saw something special in the young comedian, and knew that the impersonation was indeed the most sincere form of flattery.

“Well I finally saw it. And that’s what impersonation is, isn’t it?” Cocker asked rhetorically. “I thought he did a great job.”

Still, Cocker didn’t know what to expect from the over the top, bombastic comic as he was shuttled into the rehearsal space to do a run through for the popular NBC show.

“He was actually quite shy ... he was reticent,” Cocker said. “He just watched everything I did. I had a sore throat so he took me to his own doctor – watched the doctor put that lollipop stick down my throat and all that. Whenever he was around me he wasn’t a comedian at all, he was actually very quiet. He made me tea!”

Cocker, who will pull into Waterbury’s beautifully restored Palace Theatre for a one night stop on April 28, will likely be performing that famous two-chord anthem along with many of the other songs that made him famous including “Up Where We Belong,” which hit Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, captured a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo, and an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Speaking to the artist by phone from the cozy confines of his Mad Dog Ranch in Crawford, Colo., Cocker said his upcoming concert will draw a sample or two from his latest effort Hymn for My Soul.

Despite the fact that he has regularly produced new material, issuing a new album every two to three years going back to his 1969 debut, Cocker said he was recently challenged to find a few other gems from his vast collection of material to work into his set.

“Basically I do the things I know people love,” he said. “We’ll do ‘Unchain My Heart,’ ‘You Are So Beautiful,’ and a bunch of others that will bring you up through the ‘70s and early ‘80s. I guess I’m kind of lucky that I have a few of these hits.

“But we’re talking about resurrecting two or three old songs,” he added. “You know it’s kind of weird when somebody sends you every song you ever recorded ... a few of them I don’t even remember. So I’m going to pick out two or three and swap them out over this next tour and see how they go.”

While he wouldn’t throw down his entire hand, Cocker hinted that one would likely be “Now That the Magic Has Gone,” from the 1991 album Night Calls.

“At one time I said to myself, you know I just don’t want to go out there and do the hits,” he said. “And I still throw in a few newer songs, but I kind of realized when you’ve only got an hour and a half or two hours to put it over, the audience really wants to hear those [hits].

“But it’s not just that,” Cocker concluded. “I try and reinvent them every time I go out. The nature of my material is R&B, so my phrasing doesn’t have to be locked in to one set motion. Once I resigned myself a few years back that the audience is going to want to hear all those same songs, I kind of get into it in a different light and I really do enjoy performing more now.”

For tickets to see Joe Cocker in his only Connecticut appearance, visit PalaceTheaterCT.org. The theater is also offering a 5:30 pm pre-show dinner in the Poli Club, located on the theater’s mezzanine level. Visit the website or call 203-755-4700 for full details and reservations.