Fan's Stories

Darryl Jones is a great Ambrosia Fan from Alambama! This was Darryl's
1st Ambrosia concert!

This was my first time to see and hear Ambrosia live. Up to now their
music has existed mostly on vinyl and more recently on CD. But if you
would have told me ten years ago when I resurrected the first album for
myself that I would ever hear the band live I would not have believed it.

The outdoor amphitheater setting while a bit cold was a good atmosphere
for the two shows. That's right, there were two shows so the Ambrosia
faithful got a double dose. Many in the crowd just came in for a sample
since there was a lot to see, ride and of course, eat, at the fair. Some
came in and stayed to the end.

The band opened up with "Nice, Nice, Very nice" which opened the first
album and it was the first Ambrosia tune I heard so it was a fitting
opener. The first set included the hits and "Livin on My Own", "Mama
Don't Understand" from Anthology, and "Time Waits for No One".

I have always felt that Ambrosia was a great studio project band and a
great pop song-producing group. I was a bit skeptical that the live show
would be comparable to the recordings. Well my skepticism was smashed
with the first set and totally obliterated by the second. The second set
was more exiting than the first and the band cooked as the temperature
dropped. "Holdin on to Yesterday" had the audience captivated by an
emotional performance with powerful vocals and instrumental solos.
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Ambrosia thrills Charleston

A band with such a compliment of members brimming with talent is rare.
Burleigh, he really drives the band live and he is a master of many
styles.
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Burleigh, THE Master of Percussion

Chris, a textbook of rock keyboards, his work with the B-3 is as much
the trademark of Ambrosia as anything else.
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Chris, Master of the B-3

Joe, his bass-chops made my jaw drop, rarely have I seen a more
enthusiastic performer he lights up the stage.
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Jumpin' Joe lights up the stage

David, as I told a woman sitting nearby, "he is smooooth with those lead
vocals" And the R&B influence really comes out live. And, by the way he plays
guitar like a great lead guitar player who you would never hear sing.
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Smooth Dave

The two talented young sidemen were allowed plenty of opportunities to
showcase their talent and really contributed to the music as if it was
their own.
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Shem and Tollack showcase their talent

The original four members finished the night with "Mama Frog" as a final
encore; a surreal tour-de-force, with some hard swing thrown in, that
shows the depth of this band called "Ambrosia".
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Setlist for 1st show

Darryl Jones

Concert review of Ambrosia's concert at the Coastal Carolina Fair

in Charleston, SC on November 6, 1998 by Paco Candal

Paco Candal is a great Ambrosia Fan from Atlanta! This was Paco's
1st Ambrosia concert!

A feeling of excitement in seeing Ambrosia in concert for the first time had
been stewing in me for a while, but starting to come to a boil as we pointed
the big nose of our trusty Pontiac Transport eastward towards the Carolina
coast Thursday the day before the show. Not to belittle the fact that my wife
and I were taking our first vacation in four years without the kids which can
be the cause of elation. Then all of a sudden, 20 minutes into our journey,
panic ensues when the cell phone starts a ringing. I valiantly answer the
phone to find non-other than our dear Papa Frog alias Rex Stocklin calling to
inform me that he was overnighting a package to us in Charleston which would
contain the special issue Travelers VIP name tags; a truly sweet gesture of
him none withstanding Chris feeling a little "dissed", there was none with
his name ;-)
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Getting to the show Friday did not start quite well for us, tired from walking
all over Charleston, some procrastination, bad calculation on the distance and
a huge fair with lots of traffic and a sea of people; well we got to our seats
as Ambrosia was breaking the ice with a revised "Nice, Nice", a quite spicy
rendition I may say, featuring David in a quite funky looking 12-stringer.
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Dave and his faithful 12 string

This was followed by Livin' on my own, one of my favorites, which included a
great rendition by Tollack of Royce's part (middle 8, ??). David let
loose on a soulful rendition of You're the Only Woman which was of great
merit, featuring Mr. North's slowdancing with the Hamm. They all seemed to be
truly enjoying the show, despite a poor sound system and the weather. To keep
it short, low 40's and outdoor venues do not mix well for concerts. Besides a
few comments, this did not seem to bother the band much. When one of the
concert attendees loudly petitioned "Dance w/ me George", David sort of
snapped back "when it gets 10 degrees warmer"; it never did. There were no
surprise songs that haven't been adequately covered by reviewers of the other
concerts, but of special interest for me were their renditions of "Time Waits"
w/ David on his "sexy" Taylor acoustic, brilliantly executing what I feel is a
difficult song and in "Biggest Part" where David does a great falsetto and
plays his best guitar solo of the night. It was David's time to pay his dues;
while he melted everybody in the audience with his rendition of this song, at
the same time he was being melted back by Kirk's daughter, who can win against
a 5 year old.
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Tollack - Holdin' On

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Dave, on "his sexy Taylor acoustic"

The second show had most of the songs of the first, but they seemed
to be in a better groove and their performance was much better. The
last song of the night was dedicated to fellow Traveller and friend of
Ambrosia, Mike Granger, who contributed his talents to their first album, and
who had brought his Moog- based Grangertron synthesizer all the way from
Greenville for Chris North to play that night. And what a fine rendition of
Mama Frog they did, Joe and Burleigh giving a Rhythm Section 101 seminar and
Chris doing his magic with Mike's invention.
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Chris and Mike Granger

Well, where does this leave everybody else? Joe called by a peer the Heart & Soul
of the group that night and if you were there, it was pretty clear. Always
present in the background vocal and lead in Hopes & Dreams (great song), I
missed his lead in songs like "Drink", "Still not Satisfied", my favorite
Ambrosia song and "Heaven" which were not played.
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Joe, The Heart & Soul of Ambrosia

There are some things you see and hear live that it's not obvious in the stereo. For
me that night, was Chris North playing the Hammond, it was like oh, he does all that?
I've been enlightened.
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Captain Workout tears up Mama Frog

How about Burleigh? I am partial because to me he's the best drummer
alive period. Without taking away from the others, Burleigh imparts a
signature to the sound of Ambrosia as John Bonham, Keith Moon, Jeff Porcaro
did for their respective groups; the engine and irreplaceable at that.
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Burleigh, the BEST drummer alive

What about the travelers? What a great group of guys. I was quite concerned
because we arrived late to the show and we have these nametags and I was
supposed to distribute them, but lucky for me there is such things as two
shows a night. After the first show my wife Debbie and I moved towards the
stage and I proceeded to put a "help me I am lost" face when all of a sudden I
felt a friendly slap in the back from "Hi, I am Pat" Boyette, a surprise for
me. Immediately Billie was there, then Kirk Unruh, his wife Shirley and
lovely twins (good sports), Darryl Jones from Birmingham, Al, and others which
I can remember their names(sorry). ...and there was this guy from Raleigh, I
think, who kept calling me PapaFrog all night, I did correct him eventually
Rex.
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Shirley, Kirk, Paco, Darryl and Debbie - Travellers

I took this occasion to distribute the name tags Papa Frog had entrusted
to my care. They went like hot cakes!!. Mike Granger was working out some
keyboard connection problems with Chris N. and I met him later moments later.
About ten minute into the intermission, Burleigh Drummond and Chris North came
to meet and talk to us congregated in the front for what seemed like a
reasonable amount of time. Burleigh does read our E-mails because when I
introduced myself he said he remembered my name from the list; cool. Backstage
after the show the whole band meet with us again and signed autographs and
seemed to be truly enjoying themselves. So did I...Next show anybody?
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Ambrosia takes a bow after an awesome show in South Carolina

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Burleigh, Shem, Mike and Joe backstage after the show

Setlist for 2nd show

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