Review - Kinks tribute night, July 18, 2003, Nevin's, Evanston, IL


Date: Aug. 5, 2003
From: Rich Torres

Thanks to your website, I was able to see a WONDERFUL tribute to The Kinks at Nevin's in Evanston, Illinois. When I saw that Phil Angotti was doing the tribute, I was able to easily convince my wife to go. She loves Nevin's Restaurant. We were also celebrating the anniversary of when we first met, so the evening had all the earmarks of being special.

The stage was small, but could be seen by anyone in the hall. It had the feel of the kind of pub that The Kinks' music would fit well in. My wife and I both had a feeling of dread that the acts would be bad cover bands. We didn't know that all the bands involved were legit Chicago bands who had a love for the music of the Davies' brothers, Ray in particular.

Phil Angotti got the show off to a great start singing VGPS and got everyone to sing along. At first the gathering was quite small, but it started to build up as the evening wore on. Every act (and I'm sorry that I can't remember the names of the bands) each did three to four songs. They all gravitated to the golden years from 1965-1969. And they each did one song that was terrific.

One band finished their set by saying that they were going to do an old favorite with a new intro. They went in to the intro and I looked at my wife. I couldn't figure the song out. Well, they made up a new lyric and then after a quick count, went into Dead End Street. This was quite possible the best version of the song I have ever heard. And that's saying alot. The song had so much vitality and played with so much love, you couldn't help but sing along. People were shouting the lyrics and and the band fed off it.

There were about 13 acts that performed. We didn't get a chance to stay for the end. We left at 1:30 am (I had to get up at 6:00 for work). My wife wanted to go back for the second night, but we couldn't get a baby sitter. I hope that was half as good as the Friday night show.

Sorry about rambling on, but I just wanted you to know that Chicago still loves the Davies' boys.

Rich Torres