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paul revere and raiders Oldies acts are happy together on tour
By John Benson
Singer Mark Lindsay has no idea where he is.
“You know you’re on tour when you don’t know what city or state you’re in,” laughed the former Paul Revere and the Raiders vocalist, who later figures out he’s calling from the Missouri State Fair.
Despite the whirlwind aspects of being on the road, Lindsay is happy to once again be on the Happy Together Tour, which returns to Northeast Ohio for a Wednesday show at the Canfield Fair.
This year’s bill includes Lindsay along with the Turtles Featuring Flo & Eddie, The Association, the Cowsills, the Grass Roots and the Buckinghams.
Baby boomers looking for a trip down memory lane will get that and more with an evening that includes roughly 50 top-10 songs from the ’60s and ’70s.
As for Lindsay, his Paul Revere and the Raiders are known for classics “Kicks,’” “Hungry,” “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone,” “Steppin’ Out,” “Good Thing” “Indian Reservation” and “Arizona.” Overall, the band scored 16 Top-20 hits before calling it quits in the mid-’70s.
Looking back, Lindsay has special memories of the Buckeye State.
“I know we played it several times,” Lindsay said. “It might be the place where the Rolling Stones opened for us. The TV show ‘Where the Action is’ was so popular, the Stones were supposed to close the show, but the promoter said, ‘No, the Raiders will close the show.’
“I remember Mick [Jagger] standing beside the stage saying, ‘Who the [expletive] are these guys?’ This is 1965. The Stones and the Beatles were my personal heroes. At the time, I thought it was pretty neat but gosh, this can’t be happening. This is the Rolling Stones, and they’re opening for us.”
At that point, Lindsay admits the success of Paul Revere and the Raiders seemed unstoppable.
In fact, he admitted to naively telling producer Terry Melcher that life couldn’t get any better with his band’s future success a given.
“Of course, everything has a bell-shaped curve including the life of a rock ’n’ roll group but we had a pretty good run,” Lindsay said.
“We lasted 10 or 11 years, and that’s pretty good in rock ’n’ roll terms.”
Invariably, whenever discussing his band’s legacy, the question of induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame comes up.
For years, Lindsay said concert reviewers have been lamenting the fact Paul Revere and the Raiders have never even been nominated.
“Well, that’s politics,” Lindsay said.
“That’s in somebody else’s hands not mine. There are individuals and groups in the Rock Hall that have a lot less hits than we did, but there you go.”
As for the upcoming Canfield Fair show, Lindsay admits he’s looking forward to the food options.
“I’m going to have fried grease,” he laughed.
“I’ll go right to the heart of the cholesterol producing stuff.”