Darius Rucker at the F.M. Kirby Center Friday, Jan. 20.
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WILKES-BARRE — Throughout his career, Darius Rucker has proven adept at crossing genre boundaries, garnering praise both as a member of roots-rock ’90s darlings Hootie & the Blowfish and as a solo act playing country-pop today. He even dabbled in r&b on the oft-forgotten 2002 release, “Back to Then.”
During his concert at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre Friday, Jan. 20, Rucker’s varied musical interests were on full display as genre boundaries were not so much crossed as blurred repeatedly throughout the night.
Before Rucker, up-and-coming singer-songwriter Mallary Hope took the stage to warm up the chilly January night. Her short set blended the confessional lyricism and tender melodies of indie folk with the never-back-down Southern pride of country and climaxed with a fiery cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” which got the whole crowd singing.
After a brief intermission, the man himself arrived, with backing band Carolina Grey Boys in tow. Rucker’s unpretentious garb of T-shirt, jeans and a baseball cap clashed somewhat with the glitzy bank of flashing lights and TV screens behind him. The accompanying bouncy rendition of “Love Will Do That,” however, served as the hybridizing midpoint, fusing the bright, brash energy of the neon-blazing stage show with Rucker’s more organic, down-home feel-good flair.
After the equally upbeat “Alright,” Rucker paused for a moment to greet the crowd and ask if everyone was ready to have fun. And, with his exuberant performance style and warm, never-wavering smile, fun is exactly what he provided.
Rucker launched into the Hootie-era hit “Let Her Cry.” With even the most staid members of the audience rising to their feet for this oldie-but-goodie, it proved one of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the night. The same could be said of the other two Blowfish tracks trotted out over the course of the 90-minute set, “Hold My Hand” and “Only Wanna Be with You.”
Sandwiched between more recent offerings from solo albums “Learn to Live” and “Charleston, SC 1966,” the Hootie songs fit in surprisingly well. For audience members whose leanings may have been more toward one or the other, Rucker’s old and new material alike was akin enough to The Osmonds: A little bit country and a little bit rock ’n’ roll, to satisfy all camps.
Ditto for a cover of Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker,” which the country-fried crooner made his own to the point where if you didn’t know it wasn’t one of his originals, you might never suspect otherwise.
Though the main set came to a rowdy ’n’ raucous end with yet another cover (Hank Williams Jr.’s “Family Tradition”), Rucker didn’t leave the crowd waiting too long before returning for the obligatory encore.
Rucker serenaded his fans with an agreeable but unexceptional rendition of his saccharine single, “History in the Making.” Following that, he made a sharp turn into truly impressive territory, capping off the night with one of his most idiosyncratic choices, a uniquely moving reimagining of Prince’s “Purple Rain.”
Even more successful a rebranding than Rucker’s take on “The Joker,” “Purple Rain” benefited greatly from the singer’s signature sincerity and distinctive vocals. Indeed, the live setting allowed the natural timbre of Rucker’s voice to shine consistently during the performance, much more so than on his somewhat overproduced, over-polished albums.
Arguably a bigger asset than Rucker’s voice was his jovial sense of enthusiasm which largely eliminated the invisible barrier between audience and performer.
The closing moment — when Rucker autographed his hat and threw it into the crowd — marked one of the few instances wherein the audience burst into a typical display of rock-star adulation. For the majority of the show, Rucker’s vibrant, sunny style had transported the Pennsylvania crowd to his native South Carolina, making the event feel less like a $92 concert and more like an impromptu, backyard cookout jam-session. w
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