Happy Together Brings Joy To The Gusto Grandstand

Concert Review
Happy Together
The Turtles
Chuck Negron
The Buckinghams
Gusto Grandstand
Hamburg, NY
Wednesday August 14, 2019
Review/Photos: Joseph Suto

The Happy Together tour landed once again at the Gusto Grandstand in Hamburg, NY this past Wednesday. This year’s tour featured The Turtles headlining as they always do after all the tour is named after their biggest song. The lineup this year also included Chuck Negron formerly of Three Dog Night, Special guest Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Buckinghams, The Classics IV and The Cowsills.

The Cowsills started off the show with a brief set, in fact all the sets were very brief. All the bands used the same backing band lead by guitarist and music director Godfrey Townsend. Having the same backing band made for an ultra-quick transition from act to act as there was no downtime between.

Among the highlights were Puckett’s great version of “Young Girl”, The Buckinghams “Kind of a Drag”, and The Classics IV “Traces”. The one act who literally stole the show was Chuck Negron. Out of the many songs he could have played “Mama Told Me Not To Come” was a fabulous choice to get his set off to a flying start. By the time “Joy To The World” was belted out his very short set left the audience wanting more.

The Turtles have always been a two man show led by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. Due to recent surgeries Kaylan has been unable to tour the past two years. Which led to the frantic search to find someone capable to fill in for Kaylan and Ron Dante has done just that. Dante of course many know as a member of the studio group The Archies whose single Sugar, Sugar was at the top of the charts in 1969. While Kaylan was missed, Dante did an admirable job filling in as the show did not miss a beat.

The show brought back many memories for the longtime fans of these artists in the audience. These type of shows draw a good mix of all types of fans young, old and new. The one thing that brings everyone all together is the timeless music. Where else can you hear these great songs, many almost forgotten, all in one place?