Three Dog Night rocks Luhrs

“Our job, of course, we’re going to take you back to the 1970s,” Cory Wells said of Three Dog Night at their H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center event Friday night.

Indeed, they did take the crowd back to the ’70s. Three Dog Night kicked off their hour and a half performance with the hit “One Man Band.”

After “One Man Band,” they played “Black and White,” followed by “Never Been to Spain” which is a song with a country feel that later turned into a gold single.

The band played “The Road to Shambala” before preparing to “slow things down and do a couple of love songs about the love for people and nature,” Wells said. “Play Something Sweet” and “Easy to be Hard” were played before the band really slowed the tempo down with “An Old Fashioned Love Song.”

“[We’re] going to do some new songs that we’re working on. We approach every song as if it was a single. How many people remember 1974?” Wells said. The crowd responded vigorously with applause following his question. “Wow, lots of old people in here tonight,” Wells said.

“You Can Leave Your Hat On” was the next song that had a group of women in the front row while taking their shoes off to the lyrics.

The band then played their first gold single, called “One is the Loneliest Number,” and they had the whole crowd singing along with them.

Half way through the show, stools were brought on stage. “New thing in our contract this year.

Halfway through the set and they have to come out with stools. I’m only halfway kidding,” lead singer Danny Hutton said.

They preceded their set with a new song from their new album (which have the same name) “It Ain’t Easy,” followed by “Heart of Blues.”

“The majority of the guys on the stage have been together for 43 years,” Hutton said. He then explained how he met each member and that he had known keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon the longest.

Next, the band played “Liar.” The song showcased long solos by both Greenspoon and guitarist Michael Allsup.

Three Dog Night did something extremely unique during their song “Mama Told Me Not to Come.” By adding a small part of the song “Shake Your Booty” by KC & the Sunshine Band and by also doing a 21st century rendition of the song. Each member grabbed a hat, and Wells rapped the “Mama Told Me Not to Come” lyrics over the beat the band created.

Next, was the song “Celebrate” that was followed by an acapella version of their song “Prayer of the Children.” “Prayer of the Children” was a song written about children who get caught between the wars, explained Wells.

The band finished off their set with their popular hit “Joy to the World.”