PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Gary Puckett performs “Young Girl” and “Woman, Woman” at the Happy Together Tour at Lynn City Hall Auditorium.
BY LEAH DEARBORN
LYNN — The Happy Together Tour brought the spirit of the 1960s to Lynn Auditorium Saturday night.
The tour included performances by many of the decade’s musical icons, including Billy J. Kramer, Gary Puckett, Mark Lindsay, Chuck Negron and the Cowsills.
The Happy Together Tour is hosted by Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of The Turtles. It opened with Billy J. Kramer in replacement of The Spencer Davis Group.
Hailing from British Invasion band Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Kramer operated as a solo act, and played his 1964 chart hits “Little Children” and “Bad To Me.”
The latter was written by the late John Lennon, of the Beatles, whom Kramer said played it for him for the first time on his 20th birthday.
The Cowsills took the stage next. The family singing act that inspired “The Partridge Family” TV show was represented by Susan, Paul and Bob Cowsill. The trio dipped into a number of psychedelic pop hits from their 1967 album, “The Cowsills,” singing about flower girls in “The Rain, The Park and Other Things” and finishing with “Hair.”
Crowd favorite Gary Puckett followed, wearing a military-style jacket that he said he wore throughout most of 1968. He finished with pop hit “Young Girl,” which marks its 50-year recording anniversary next year.
Mark Lindsay, former lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders, came next and he brought the swinging side of the ’60s to his act with tunes like “Arizona” and the wild Sgt. Pepper-style garb for which the Raiders were famous.
Following Lindsay was Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night, who brought a relaxed stage presence and iconic hits such as 1969’s “Eli’s Coming” and 1971 release, “Joy to the World.”
Founding members of The Turtles, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, appeared for the final performance of the night. Wearing a wig, Volman jokingly lip-synced to a recording of “Hello” by Adele before the duo launched into a bit of comedic shtick as well as songs “You Baby” and “She’d Rather Be With Me.”
“Welcome to take-what-you-can-get hour,” said Kaylan in reference to the fact that fans of 60s music will never have another Beatles show to attend. The duo finished the night with tour title track, “Happy Together” from 1967.
“It’s a great crowd,” said auditorium general manager Jamie Marsh about the tour. “We’re all happy here together.”
