Review | Retro Rocking the Night Away with Jefferson Starship and the Marshall Tucker Band 

Sunday night’s reopening of the historic Granada Theatre after some flood damage in late January was cause for celebration on multiple fronts. Not only was the grand dame of the State Street arts district back in business and looking as lovely as ever, the double headliner show of the Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship was a pairing of two iconic bands from the 1970s, who toured together way back in the day, and judging from the enthusiastic sold out crowd, I would guess that many of those same fans were there to see them in those early years. 

Because of the age of the bands, and the fans, I was predicting an early night when I arrived, but the excited energy of both contingents resulted in a surprise of an almost 3.5 hour show. As a lovely lady exclaimed to me in the drink line, “there’s something about the music of your youth that makes you feel, well … youthful!”

Jefferson Starship kicked off the night strong, with a string of familiar singalong hits from the 11 studio albums they’ve released since 1974, their most recent being Mother of the Sun in 2020, which sounds just as distinctive as the rockers always have — even though David Freiberg is the last remaining original member of the band. What he lacked in mobility he made up for in musicality and charisma, with frontwoman Cathy Richardson (a Starship “newbie” celebrating a 16-year tenure with the group this month) bringing a powerful voice and bawdy energy to a set that included singalong favorites like  “Count on Me,” “Runaway,” “With Your Love,” “Sara,” “Miracles,” “We Built This City,” “Jane,” and “White Rabbit.”

Not only did Richardson have a great voice, she was also a humorous host throughout the set, teasing the audience for example, with “I know that on your way here you were all saying ‘I hope they don’t play anything new’,” before introducing the new(ish) song “Setting Sun” from the 2020 album.

Gently pushing the merch, Richardson said, “If you want to see the hippest person in the room, put on a Jefferson Starship t-shirt and look in the mirror.” 

Introduced as “the spawn of Jefferson Airplane” (Jefferson Starship is a spinoff of Jefferson Airplane), China Kantner — the daughter of original band members Paul Kantner and Grace Slick — came on stage to sing along for a few songs, including “Don’t You Want Somebody to Love,” which added even further to the retro fun and nostalgia. 

After a short intermission and set change from the colorful, psychedelic Jefferson Starship backdrop to a cowboy stagecoach image befitting the country adjacent sound, it was time for The Marshall Tucker Band to take the stage. Named after a man named Marshall Tucker, a blind piano tuner in South Carolina who signed his name on one of the pianos in the studio where the band rehearsed (Tucker passed away in 2023 at the age of 99) these southern rockers were much less familiar to me than Starship, but once again, the crowd clearly loved them. 

“What did we do to deserve a place like this,” said Marshall Tucker’s singer Doug Gray, the only original member on board, as he gestured around the opulent theater. “I have so much appreciation for all of you, and it’s thanks to you that we’ve been keeping the Marshall Tucker Band together for 51 years,” he said. 

The Marshall Tucker Band indeed rose to fame with their self-titled debut album in 1973 and their trademark sound of two wailing guitars, drums, and some exceptional rock flute — these days from Marcus James Henderson (a true utility player who also played keyboards, saxophone and sang) — has stayed pretty solidly consistent through the decades. The band’s extended instrumental jams kept the crowd happy and singing along to familiar tunes like “Can’t You See,” “Take the Highway,” and “Heard it in a Love Song,” which was the band’s highest-charting song in 1977, peaking at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

“I’m guessing we first heard about that one from Casey Kasem,” laughed a man sitting near me. And I’m guessing if you don’t know who Kasem was then you weren’t in the audience on Sunday. But for those of us who do know, and who were there, it was a mighty fun night of retro rock ‘n’ roll. 

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