May 30, 1980 Gusto concert review: Greg Kihn Band at Uncle Sam's



One of the unsung giants of power pop.

May 30, 1980
"How come I never heard of this guy before? He's great!" some fellow yells Thursday night during the odd moment when he isn't bobbing enthusiastically to the Greg Kihn Band. Kihn is a knockout. He also happens to be one of the best-kept secrets in rock 'n roll.
Kihn is the star of the offbeat roster of tiny Beserkley Records in Berkeley, Calif. Since their debut on "Beserkley Chartbusters, Vol. 1" in 1975, Kihn and his three bandmates have gone on to put out five albums, becoming a major Bay Area club band along the way. The albums were knockouts too – ahead of their time in simplicity and pop energy – but they kept coinciding with disastrous Beserkley distribution deals. Kihn never got the big push.
Kihn and his group show their prowess as a club band in Uncle Sam's in Cheektowaga, turning about 600 of the curious into believers. They're all good times and high energy, blasting out tunes from Kihn's latest album, "Glass House Rock," and some great oldies. They tip their hand early with Buddy Holly's 1958 "Rave On." The girls like Kihn's youthful, clean-cut earnestness. The guys like his moves as lead singer and occasional 12-string guitarist.
The band is tight. It shows in the power chords, in the little syncopation the bass and drums throw against the beat. Kihn yields to drummer Larry Lynch for a rocking round of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and winds up with a pair of cult favorites, his own "Secret Meetings" and fellow Beserkley-ite Jonathan Richman's fabled "Roadrunner" -- throwing in a snatch of the Who's "My Generation" for good measure.
The encore is even more ecstatic. The Yardbirds' 1965 hit, "For Your Love." Kihn's fast-moving "Museum" from the third album. "It was all right," the chorus goes, "we never met a person we didn't like." They exit and return with a Lou Reed medley – "Rock and Roll" intertwined with "Sweet Jane."
Afterward, Kihn says he's pleasantly surprised at how his kind of music has become mainstream. He's starting to do arenas this tour, opening for Todd Rundgren and Utopia in Nassau Coliseum. He'd like to do an album with Rundgren. He's producing some San Francisco bands himself. And he's ready to shop for a big-time record contract.
Elektra, Beserkley's current distributor, seems to want to give Kihn the push he needs. Take this date. Kihn originally was proposed to open for Dirty Looks in Harvey and Corky's Stage One. Elektra interceded and convinced Festival East to promote Kihn in the much larger Uncle Sam's. Festival East, which has just negotiated to bring shows into the Walden Avenue club, used Kihn to open the series. Coming attractions include progressive rocker Bill Bruford June 10 and Ian Hunter June 14.
* * * * *
IN THE PHOTO: Undated photo from the late '70s or early '80s. That's Greg Kihn on the right.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE: Greg Kihn's best days were just down the road. His next album took him to No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" and the one after that contained his greatest hit, "Jeopardy," which went to No. 2 and was also a hit in the parody version, "I Lost on Jeopardy" by Weird Al Yankovic.
Kihn toured extensively through the 1980s (even opening for the Rolling Stones), appeared on TV frequently and kept releasing more albums. He went on to be a Bay Area morning disc jockey from 1996 to 2012. He also wrote four novels and a bunch of short stories.
Wikipedia says he last performed live in 2019, but Buffalo News archives show him scheduled to appear with the Tubes in the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda on Oct. 21, 2021. He previously dropped into the Riviera in August 2018 with John Ford Coley. He died from Alzheimer's disease complications on Aug. 13, 2024.
As far as setlist.fm is concerned, the Uncle Sam's date didn't happen. Even for the ones that are acknowledged, there are virtually no tunes provided until Sept. 26 at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. Here's what happened at the early show that night:
Mystic Eyes (Them cover)
Love's Made a Fool of You (Crickets cover)
Rendezvous (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Heartbreak Hotel (Elvis Presley cover)
Cold Hard Cash
Desire Me
Small Change
(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance
The Only Dance There Is
Night After Night
It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)/Secret Meetings (Bob Dylan cover)
Roadrunner/Someone I Care About/My Generation (Modern Lovers and Who covers)
Museum
Sweet Jane (Velvet Underground cover)

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