Live Review: The Official Blues Brothers Revue

Tonight we were on a mission from God; to catch a show based on the famous characters — "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues — from 1980's The Blues Brothers. Jake was performed by Wayne Catania and oh my stars was he a dead set ringer for the late great John Belushi. Elwood was performed by Kieron Lafferty and if you closed your eyes it was like we were transported back to 1980. Lafferty was spot on with Dan Aykroyd's baritone voice.

The show started with the six-piece backing band performing the Peter Gunn Theme while on the big screen a clip played of The Blues Brothers running late for the show. Cute but unnecessary, it went on for a bit too long. They entered the stage and, just like the movie, unlocked their briefcase full of blues and dramatically took out a harmonica before running into I Can't Turn You Loose, originally by Otis Redding. As a fan of the movie, this reviewer was delighted to hear the classics early on such as Gimme Some Lovin', closely followed by Sweet Home Chicago. 

Probably their most famous and well-known track is Shake A Tail Feather, originally by Ray Charles. It's an infectious song and some of the crowd danced in front of the stage. Yet this reviewer noticed they missed half the lyrics and didn't perform many of the dance moves the song mentions. For a tribute act that has the tick of approval from Aykroyd himself that was a huge disappointment, and unfortunately this was the vibe of the night. They seemed to be going through the motions and the first half of the evening lacked energy.

Things started to gain momentum with Minnie The Moocher as they got the crowd involved with the song's famous "Hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi"/"Ho-dee ho-dee ho" call and response (you all know it). This followed straight into Do You Love Me?, which had the crowd doing the twist with no hesitation.

They concluded with Soul Man, which had great energy from the band. If they had only been at that level across the entire show they would have had this reviewer and many more in the crowd out of their seats dancing.