PHOTO CREDIT: Blaine Schutlz
The Zombies
In March The Zombies were inducted as senior members of the 2019 class of The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Fittingly, the induction ceremony took place exactly 50 years to the day “Time of the Season” first hit #1 on the charts in America.
Saturday afternoon, Aug. 17, the band took a victory lap, playing an outdoor show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Rain showers passed though as if to acknowledge the anniversary of Woodstock.
Not that anyone needed warming up in the 90 degrees-plus weather, as keyboardist Rod Argent, singer Colin Bluntstone and band launched into Bo Diddley’s “Roadrunner” before playing “I Love You” the obscure B-side that became a 1968 hit for the band People.
With Bluntstone especially in amazing voice and performing to an audience that ranged from original fans to teenagers, The Zombies performed “Care Of Cell 44,” “This Will Be Our Year,” “I Want Her She Wants Me” and “Time Of The Season”, a quartet of songs from the classic album with the oddly spelled title, Odessey And Oracle.
They also nodded to Argent’s post-Zombies hit “Hold Your Head Up” and Bluntstone’s work with The Alan Parson’s Project. Inviting onstage original members bassist/songwriter Chris White and drummer Hugh Grundy, the Zombies encored with “She's Not There” allowing ample room for the band to segue into the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “ I’m a Man.”
