Frankie Valli: Hanging on to What He's Got

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Wolf Trap-Filene Center, July 15

recommended beverage:
Water. Too damn hot for anything else.

76 is the answer to your first question. That’s Frankie Valli’s age; it also was, predictably, the median age of concert-goers at last night’s show at Wolf Trap.

Yes! This answers your next question: Can he still hit the high notes? Valli’s voice sounded fairly strong, his falsetto intact. Of course, he had a huge band behind him, including a five-piece horn section, and his Seasons to back him up. During some of his biggest hits, he deferred to the audience to sing the chorus. Valli also seemed in great spirits despite the stifling temperatures. A couple of times, he referred to the outdoor venue as “a big Jacuzzi.”

No, answers your next question: Were any of the original Four Seasons there? His backup boys looked about the same age as those in the cast of Jersey Boys. The four provided solid backing voices and the same kind of cheesy choreography that makes you wince and smile at the same time. It turns out that none of the original Seasons have played with Valli for at least three decades so it’s always a changing cast. One original Season, Nick Massi, died in 2000, a year after they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Valli’s 90-minute set included several songs from an album he released a few years ago, titled, Romancing the ’60s, on which he covers the songs of other artists from that era. He introduced the medley by saying when approached to do another record, he listened to the radio for a few months but couldn’t find anything he liked so he went back to his roots and revisited some rock ‘n’ roll classics. If anyone wanted one, he said had about 400,000 copies with him for sale. He gave a copy to a lady in the front row, while failing to notice the woman in the fourth row feverishly waving her 33 LP of “Sherry.”

Folks in the pavilion clapped along and finally got to their feet midway through when the band erupted into “Oh What a Night.” The night included the requisite schmaltz, such as his 1975 solo hit, “My Eyes Adored You.” But much of the set stayed upbeat and he strung together a number of his most beloved to close the show, such as “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Let’s Hang On.”

When the show ended, the 80-year-old gentleman seated next to me asked, “Is this the intermission?” Am still smiling about his enthusiasm. He seemed ready to keep rocking out. That feeling, of wanting more, is always a sign of a fine night of music.