CLEARFIELD – Wednesday night’s show at the Clearfield County Fair proved that music does bridge the generation gap. In what is billed as “Oldies Night,” bands from yesteryear performed before a crowd of mixed ages, ranging from juvenile to elderly.
Andy Kim, popular in the ’60s and ’70s, opened the show, playing his hits “Sugar, Sugar,” his version of “Be My Baby,” “Rock Me Gently,” and others.
“Everyone says it’s hot up here,” said Kim. “But it’s cool to see all of you here.”
Seventies’ star Maxine Nightingale took the stage next, sang her hit “Right Back Where We Started From,” as well as some of her other hit songs.
Nightingale got the crowd going with a competition during “Right Back Where We Started From.” She pitted one half of the crowd against the other, asking each side to sing the chorus to the song.
Pittsburgh native and “cry song” crooner Lou Christie was the next act. Christie, known throughout the 1960s for his songs, performed “Two Faces Have I,” his “dirty” version of “Rhapsody in the Rain,” and “the Gypsy Cried” among others.
Christie’s song “Rhapsody in the Rain” was the first to be banned on the radio in the United States.
Christie even sang many of his songs in the same high-key they were sang in years ago, and even got the crowd to help him out on one song.
The headliner was Motown legends Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Reeves, one of Motown’s earliest artists, sang hits to the crowd such as “Heatwave,” “Come Get These Memories,” and “Nowhere to Run,” which was on the soundtrack for the movie “Good Morning Vietnam.” Reeves dedicated “Nowhere to Run” to all of the veterans in the audience.