You might want to rehearse the lyrics to “Good Lovin’” in front of the mirror before attending Wednesday’s HippieFest concert at the RiverCenter. Felix Cavaliere expects audience participation.
“I make them sing along, utilize their memory banks and have a good time,” said Cavaliere, who performs as Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals and is known for songs like “Groovin’” and “A Beautiful Morning.”
But most people don’t have a problem getting into the Hippiefest vibe. Some even come dressed in tie-dyed clothes, wearing afro wigs, he said.
“It’s really an excuse for them to dress up as they used to,” he said.
Cavaliere is one of five artists playing the concert. Other performers include Dave Mason of Traffic, Mark Farner, the former lead singer of Grand Funk Railroad, Rick Derringer and Gary Wright. Each act will focus on their hits. For Wright, it’s songs from his time with the English rock band Spooky Tooth and his 1976 hit “Dream Weaver.
Wright said people come to concerts like Hippiefest to hear the hits they grew up with. “They want to tune into that frequency again,” he said.
The concert is also a good deal for both the bands traveling and the concert-goers, Cavaliere said. The bands save money on touring costs, he said, and the audience can see “five or six acts for a reasonable price.”
Cavaliere has played on HippieFest tours before and said there’s a “real camaraderie” among the musicians on this year’s tour.
“I think everybody is really talented and really nice,” he said. “We’re having a good time. It’s a really great group.”
Music was also a way of connecting in the 1960’s, Cavaliere, and HippieFest lets people return to that.
“That’s the main thing, to go back in time to when there was a real spirit of love around,” he said. “In those days there was no Internet, no video games, we didn’t even have a lot of channels on TV. We had music. Music was the unifying force.”
Wright agreed, saying that the listening to music was a way of connecting with people. Though the songs may be decades old, listeners treat them like a part of their lives.
“I have people come up to me and say, ‘They played Dream Weaver at my prom,’” he said. “I play it and they still love it.”
Sara Pauff, 706-320-4469
