Robby Vee is a real son of a gun – at least when it comes to rock’n’roll.
Bobby Vee’s little boy proved he belongs in the same rocking class as his famous father when he all but blew the roof off the Savannah Center Monday night.
This was a night for rollicking music that covered just about everything from the Ventures’ twangy guitars to Hank Williams’ swamp country to Buddy Holly’s rockabilly and Led Zeppelin’s sonic riffs.
Not to mention a touching and glorious tribute to Bobby Vee by his son. “My father made his music for his fans and I’m here to give it back to you,” Robby, wearing a blue suit, white shirt open at the collar to highlight a jet black pompadour hairdo. “I’m here to share my father’s musical heritage – me.”
Vee went back to his father’s first regional hit recording, “Suzie Baby,” from 1959. Robby told the story of how Bob Dylan, early in his career, played with Bobby Vee’s band.
“I took my father to see Bob Dylan backstage at a concert last year,” Vee said. “I saw Dylan tell my dad: ‘I learned how to do this from you. You taught me how to connect with a crowd.’”
Robby Vee had no trouble connecting with the people on Monday. The show began with Vee and his tight band — Jeff Bjork, drums; Brandon Petron, guitar and a bass player called King Creole –played rock instrumentals, including the Ventures’ classic, “Walk Don’t Run.”
Then it was time for a tribute to, “the man I call the king – Chuck Berry,” Vee said. He ripped into such Berry numbers as, “Johnny Be Good,” “Little Queenie” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”
There was more ‘50s’ rock with Gene Vincent’s “Be-Bop-A-Lula” and next up was Buddy Holly, who will always be identified with Bobby Vee. After Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens were killed in an Iowa plane crash on Feb. 2, 1959, it was Vee who replaced Holly on the tour the next night.
“My dad always remembered and loved Buddy Holly,” Robby Vee said before going into a tender version of “True Love Ways.” Next came a flurry of Holly songs and the crowd was singing along to most, including: “Peggy Sue” and “Oh Boy.”
Vee then took time for some family reminiscing. He told the story of his father’s song, “Come Back When You Grow Up Girl,” a hit in 1967.
“It hit No. 1 on the charts when I was born,” Robby said with a grin. “My dad said I was his good luck charm.” Bobby Vee also was a part of rock’s hit factory in the early ‘60s known as the Brill Building. That was the place where such writers as Carole King and Gerry Goffin worked.
“My father wasn’t a teen idol, he was a Brill Building singer,” Vee said before going into a couple hits from that era, “Take Good Care of My Baby” and “Run to Him.”
Robby then took a time trip back to the early 60s in Moorhead, Minn., where his dad got his start. “If you were walking down the street in Moorhead back then and a ’57 Chevy pulled up to you and rolled down the front window this is the song you would hear: “Devil or Angel.”
It was the last 20 minutes of the concert that brought the crowd to its feet. Vee and his band went into a musical mash-up of rock’n’roll history. It started with Gary Bond’s “New Orleans” traveled to “Land of 1,000 Dances” and kept grooving with a neo-rockabilly version of Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou). Where did they go from there – to Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.”
Vee turned the Savannah Center into loud, boisterous and foot-pounding party room. The mood helped ease the burden that Robby and his family must deal with: Bobby Vee, 70, has Alzheimer’s disease.
“My father loves his fans,” Robby said. “Tonight we celebrated his music and his spirit.”
On this night, Robby Vee did his father proud.
