Ray Manzarek The Doors 21st Century Tour June 20, 2003

Wow! The Doors played in Detroit (well, actually in Clarkston instead of downtown at Cobo Hall) for the first time since 1970 (an incredible show, as preserved in the two-disc set from Bright Midnight Records online) and I was there! It was absolutely fantastic!

I was a bit nervous before it started, because the music has been so special to me for so many years. I was very apprehensive of how they would treat the material, and quite frankly, how Ian Astbury would be on-stage. Also, there was all of this fuss about lawsuits (separate actions with Stewart Copeland and John Densmore, two of my favorite drummers) clouding my emotions. But when "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana signaled the start of the show, I felt a bit more confident.

Suddenly, The Doors were onstage! They opened with Roadhouse Blues (an immediate favorite for the crowd who proudly shouted and displayed their beers on command). The band sounded solid! The music was hot! The crowd was excited! By the time the band hit their third song (which happens to be one of my favorites - When The Music's Over), I was fully convinced that this was going to be a magical evening!

The drummer we saw is Ty Dennis and the bass player is Angelo Barbera. Both tour regularly with Robby Krieger (when they are not playing with the Doors, that is!). I saw Robby's band when they played at the Magic Bag in Ferndale a year or so ago, and it was a great show, so I had an idea of how they would sound together.

The show started after 8:30pm because there was no opening act, and they were Waiting For The Sun (sorry, had to do it!) to set. Before the show started, there was this one guy who kept walking across the stage behind the drumset (eerily reminiscent of John's set, but with more cymbals) and shading his eyes as he watched the sun pass over the big hill in the back.

The set list was very diverse with a few surprises (some acoustic songs, for instance) along with a single new Doors song called "Cops Talk." Ray explained that they are recording new material with lyrics from a wide variety of poets and writers (no definitive timeframe on when the recordings will be released).

• Roadhouse Blues
• Break On Through
• When The Music's Over
• Love Me Two Times
• Moonlight Drive/Louie, Louie
• Wild Child
• Cops Talk
• Alabama Song
• Backdoor Man/Woman Is The Devil
• Five To One
• Crystal Ship (Acoustic)
• People Are Strange (Acoustic)
• Spanish Caravan
• Maggie M'Gill
• L.A. Woman
• Riders On The Storm
• Light My Fire
• Soul Kitchen

The setlist is also available from RayManzarek.com which also features the setlist of their return show on Autust 21, 2004 as well.

The show ended in typical Doors style, with the entire crowd rushing the stage during the last song - Soul Kitchen. It was safe, fun, and fantastic! Ray and Robby were both trying to see each other (Robby was jumping up and down within a ring of security guys trying to see Ray and the others). Ian had disappeared as the crowd rushed the stage; Ray and Robby were able to play for a few solos and lyricless verses; by the time it was over, only the drummer and bassist were able to play - so they wrapped it up as best they could.

That final encore was an awesome scene! Folks in the front row jumped up on the stage and soon everyone was running down the isles and jumping up as well (during the first encore the band allowed a bunch of back-stage pass people to dance around on either side of the drummer), so it didn't surprise me that others decided to join in the fun - and I know for sure that Ray was smiling the whole time!

After the house lights came on, it took about 10 minutes for all of the people to get off the stage. We stayed near our seats and had fun watching them all have a great time freaking out. Hey, come to think of it, the introduction guy said the ubiquitous "Ladies And Gentlemen, From Los Angeles, California... The Doors" but at the end he did not say "Thank You All For Coming... Good Night!" Regardless it was indeed an incredible night - one I will not forget!

With special thanks to the awesome Robby Krieger website (www.robbykrieger.com), you can see some high-quality photos of the show! Alas, the photos that I took (first section, above) are, well, definitely lacking the quality of my other photo collections. Believe you me, I had a blast and loved the show, but I am disappointed in how rotten my photos turned out. (I saw a lot of people with cameras, and I hope that many of you who shared this experience will want to also share your photos!)