The Band That Time Forgot ~ 2025 March 1 ~ The Burren, Somerville, MA Head West (guitar, vocals), Stash Jackson (drums, vocals), Rainbow Gates (bass, vocals), Wild West (keyboards, vocals). Head West is Peter Hoffman; not sure of anybody else's real names. Scroll to below videos for a review of the show. Video "California Sun" (The Rivieras) Review I've been hearing about this band for a few years now and finally ventured into the big city to give them a listen, and I'm sure glad I did. The four guys have been keeping the sounds of the '60s rockin' for quite a while now, with good humor and a lot of fun. These four talented guys go by stage names, but one of them is Peter Hoffman, whom I'd just seen rockin' the house a few weeks ago backing up Willie Nile, and now it was his turn to shine. All four musicians tonight got lead vocals and a chance in the spotlight, but I'd say Peter was the band leader if anyone was, introducing his bandmates and entertaining the soldout crowd with witty banter. They had a lot of fun telling jokes and stories, giving out copies of their 45 (see the photo gallery to the right), and displaying a pair of American flag shorts that they claimed someone had worn at Woodstock, and offering to give to anyone in the crowd who could answer the right trivia question, and also fit into the shorts! Nobody did, needless to say! I knew (and enjoyed) most of the songs, but some were so obscure (a trademark of this band) that they stumped me. Some of the favorites I heard tonight ranged from "Black Is Black" (Los Bravos), a song by the Blues Magoos, "A Little Bit Of Soul" (the Music Explosion), "Green Tambourine" (Lemon Pipers), "Game Of Love" (Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders), a song by Booker T & the MGs, "Break On Through" (the Doors), an obscure song by Nazz (Todd Rundgren), "Whiter Shade Of Pale" (Procol Harem), "Foxy Lady" by Hendrix, "Laugh Laugh" by The Beau Brummels, "Something in the Air" (Thunderclap Newman), "Spirit In the Sky" (Norman Greenbaum), "Long Cool Woman" (the Hollies), "Time Has Come Today" (Chambers Brothers). And there were others, some I just didn't know or ones that I can't read the titles of in my little concert notebook. But the absolutely best song they did, the one that made me want to scream with joy because it took me back to, well you'll see, was "I Need You" by The Kinks. That was a song that I heard Dave Davies do many, many times during the years I was following his solo tours, 1997 through 2003. That they performed this relatively obscure Kinks number and not one of the other more famous power chord hits showed this band's approach to the music of that groovy era. I'm pretty sure the Burren was sold out. It was a general admission show, and after treating ourselves to a tasty pub food dinner out in the main room Concert Going Partner and I joined the queue to get into the back room where the the performance was going to be. We grabbed a seat in front of the stage in front of Peter. The club was festively decorated for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. They had cleared the center of the room for dancing, and many of the patrons took advantage of that space. There was another dance band coming in at 10 pm, so the BTTF played until about 8:45 and then had time to clear off the stage. We hadn't been to the Burren since before the pandemic, and were happy to find that getting there on a weekend, and finding parking, were no problem at all. It was extremely crowded but the staff were all very efficient and friendly, and three cheers to this venue for providing such a fun evening of entertainment.
The Band That Time Forgot
click thumbnail to see a photo gallery
of the concert