It's a guilty pleasure, but I had a great time at the Hippiefest concert at the Dodge Theater in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, last night. A great deal of it was pure nostalgia, but it wasn't all just navel-gazing.

Jonathan Edwards is perhaps best known for "Sunshine" and the audience joined in gleefully. "How much does it cost?", he crooned and the audience screamed back "I'LL BUY IT!". I didn't realize what a great harmonica player he is, especially since his hands are busy with the guitar. He did a song? chant? poem? called "This Island Earth" that was awesome and I must learn it.

Just like last year, Joey Molland did a pile of Badfinger hits which just served to remind me how much good music is in the Badfinger catalogue. Behind the band was a projection light show which included some pics of a very young Joey. This was a theme they came back to often with some of the acts not looking all that different from their younger selves and some of the acts - well, it would have been hard to match them up.

Janis Ian performed beautifully. Her voice is still a fine instrument. Along with the hits, she did a great and funny tune about her autobiography, about how lucky everybody was to be in her presence. And the autobiography part was not a joke, she has just written a book. I've run across Janis' online writing about electronic copies of music and taking some strong views, check it out.

After rearranging the stage, the Turtles came on and did their usual fun show. Flo & Eddie are great frontmen, they work the audience. The tunes were as contagious as they were in their heyday and people were dancing in the aisles. The Turtles part of the show was one of the highlights last year and they certainly came through again. The sarcastic, pungent wit of the lyrics has been co-opted by time, I guess. "Eleanor, gee, I think you're swell..." has become part of the anthems of our lives.

Then Jack Bruce, singer, composer, bass player. He's playing fretless bass (his website says he picked it up in the 70s). A couple of Cream tunes brought down the house but some of the other tunes fell a little flat. When Jack talked, he seemed out of synch with the audience and it was reflected in the music. I got the feeling he was more inwardly focused than the other acts. I'm not saying it was right or wrong, just that it took an extra effort to try and follow his musical path and you had to leave behind the ecstasy of the moment to do it.

Eric Burdon finished it off with a tear-down-the-house-and-feed-it-to-the-fire hot finish! He looks very different but he still has a great set of pipes. He had the "Animals" with him including a very young lady on bass who was obviously not part of the original group. He did his hits, of course, with everybody singing along on "We gotta get out of this place" and "It's my life, I'll do what I want". He also knocked the socks off some standard blues and R&B hits, including "Boom Boom Boom Boom". He finished with "House of the Rising Sun" ending it with a great gospel shout.

Can't wait 'till next year!