Starship

Starship, and its predecessor, Jefferson Airplane were born out of San Francisco, California. As a continuation of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship continued on with many of the original artists leaving the band to go in different directions. Jefferson Airplane would record many songs of note before their final breakup.

It would be 1992 when Starship featuring Mickey Thomas would evolve into the act that we see today. What was a original main feature of Starship was the great Grace Slick singing with Thomas. It was uncanny how much the two sounded alike. Slick would eventually leave the band in 1988, leaving Thomas as the sole band mate. Grace Slick would leave her mark before leaving, however. In 1985 with the album "Knee Deep in The Hoopla" would produce a number one hit with "We Built This City"; it made Slick at that time the oldest woman to record a number one hit only to be usurped by Cher.

"Hoopla" would also produce the song "Sara" and that song too went to number one. Like Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, Starship had a huge turnover in the artists that played for each band. Especially in the Airplane years, big egos and artistic differences led to people like Casady and Karkonen to part the band and form Hot Tuna. Even Marty Balin how formed the band would end up leaving it due to artistic differences and infighting.

Starting in 1965, the Airplane would swap out some of their musicians for others; this is when the powerful Grace Slick entered the band (1966). Many experts say that it was 1966 was when the band was at its peek. Drummer Spencer Dryden backstopped many of their greatest hits. Slick was resonant on vocals and bassist Casady would bring the hard driving rock beat to Airplane.

Last evening at the beautiful Morristown Performing Arts Center, Starship and Mickey Thomas were at the forefront. Thomas, while older now, still has a formidable voice. At times playful, Thomas was all business when it came to the band's performance With a tight band around him, Starship opened with "Layin' It on the Line". The evenings second and third songs were in order of "Jane" and "Sara", two great hits by the band.

It would be the evenings sixth and seventh songs that would bring the crowd to a frenzy: "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". The older crowd ate these two great yesteryear songs up. Artisanally, going right into "Somebody" from "Rabbit" was brilliant. While the woman who belted them out was very good, she was no Grace Slick. She did not have that deep heartfelt staccato in her like Slick had; and yet she was still sufficient enough to make you feel the songs while they played. It is noteworthy to mention that these two songs are etched in Rock and Roll history.

Starship would record two songs for movies: "Wild Again" for the movie "Cocktail" and "It's Not Enough" for "Young-blood" The later was the follow-up song to "Somebody to Love". This song was played brilliantly by the bands strong lead guitarist. In fact, the flow of the concert all evening was brilliant; the song timing and the choice of songs scheduled were well thought out.

"Nothing's gonna Stop Us Now" was one of the evenings favorites by the enthusiastic fans. Thomas drove the crowd to its feet with its wonderful blend of pop and soul. Thomas's participation with Elvin Bishop on "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" was a nostalgic wonder! Thomas showed the audience that his voice can still dig down deep. His voice is one of the most recognizable in rock till this day. "Stranger" showed off the band's musical talents... with the hard hitting drums, the great organ playing and tight bass, "Stranger" went deep to the heart of this band today! Ending with the Bernie Tarpin, Martin Page and Dennis Lambert "We Built This City" was a standing ovation! Done beautifully, the crowd was not disappointed. The show would conclude with "Find Your Way Back" and Ac/DC's Shook Me All Night Long.