Rock The Beach 2010

Fort-Walton-Beach-006It was hot, hot, hot in Fort Walton Beach, FL on Sunday. People started coming to the beach early afternoon for a free concert featuring Kenny Loggins and the Doobie Brothers. By 5 PM, the beautiful white sand was covered from the stage to the sea-green water by beach umbrellas and sunbathers. When Kenny took the stage, everyone was on his or her feet and the party started.

This event was planned on very short notice --- less than 2 weeks ---- to do something for the people on the gulf coast. Amazingly, Kenny was able to come with a full band and did they ever put on a show.

The band included Scott Sheriff on keyboard, Tom Brechtlein on drums, Steve Nieves on sax, George Hawkins on bass and, (surprise) Chris Rodriguez on lead guitar.

Fort-Walton-Beach-009Kenny mentioned that Chris was playing with 2 broken ribs and a broken collarbone from a tumble he took 2 weeks ago while jogging. It was great to see Chris again and you never would have known from watching that he was hurting.

At the start of the show, I was on a 2nd floor patio on the boardwalk near the stage --- but couldn’t stand not being closer. I was able to move down and get right in front of the stage, where the singing and dancing were going full steam. Talk about hot â€" the sand, the sunburned bodies and the music -- everything was rocking and rolling.

A special treat came during Celebrate Me Home. Marc Russo (of the Doobie Brothers) joined the band to do the sax solo. Kenny mentioned that Marc toured with him years ago, but he could no longer afford to pay Marc what he was worth.

Fort-Walton-Beach-013Fort-Walton-Beach-010

Kenny was on stage for about 90 minutes --- which was really great for an opening act. From reading other set lists for this year, it seems they did almost all of their current show. The set list included (think I got it all):

Danny's Song
Return to Pooh Corner
Leap of Faith
Conviction of the Heart
Heart to Heart
This is It
Celebrate Me Home (with Marc Russo doing sax solo)
Free Man NowYour Mama Don't Dance
I'm Alright
Don't Fight It
Danger Zone
Footloose

Encore:
Mr. Night
Forever

Fort-Walton-Beach-015After singing for 90 minutes in 90-something heat, during the time it took to re-do the stage for the Doobie Brothers, Kenny was gracious enough to do a meet & greet for some of locals.

Lastly for Twig, Kenny wore the t-shirt with the multi-colored dragon, brown plaid capris and sandals, perfect for the beach.

A thank-you to Kenny and his whole crew for pulling this appearance together in such a short time. It was really a special night for a part of this country that needs some joy and good news right now. And the attendees at this concert really enjoyed it. As nice as the weather was on Sunday, the next day we woke to rain and thunderstorms spinning off of Alex. Hopefully this weather system does not cause more problems for the gulf coast area.  ~ KayV