Neil Sedaka, ’60s singing sensation, thrills at CCA

Crowded gala event inaugurates first season of refurbished Collins Center for the Arts

Posted on Oct. 05, 2009, at 2:12 a.m.

Saturday night’s gala opening of the Collins Center for the Arts featured ’60s crooner Neil Sedaka in a concert that brought most of the attendees down memory lane.

Sedaka, best known for “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” crooned as sweetly as ever, despite 50 years having passed since his first Billboard Hot 100 hit. The crowd — and music, for that matter — was in stark contrast to that of The Decemberists, just two weeks ago. Only a few students attended; the audience was, for the most part, a sea of salt and pepper.

Despite the fairly narrow age appeal of Sedaka’s music, the concert was well attended, with 1,118 tickets sold of 1,436 available; The Decemberists filled 1,298.

The night served as a road trip down memory lane, not only for the audience, but for Sedaka himself. He joked in between numbers with the audience and told stories with no regard to humility. In a garishly yellow jacket and sporting his bright smile, he boasted of selling 50 million albums from 1958 to 1963 — an almost certainly inflated number.

Sedaka mixed his songs with personal anecdotes, telling of his children and grandchildren, wife and recording career.

“The songs of the ’50s and ’60s were all very happy, perhaps a little naïve, but you could understand all of the lyrics.”

Whether due to poor musicianship, bad audio engineering or poor acoustics in the newly renovated Center for the Arts — or perhaps a bit of all three — Sedaka was oftentimes hard to understand, and the balance of the band was often poor. Sedaka’s piano playing was drowned out by excessive use of synthesizer and a boisterous drum set.

The synthesizer, which was used to emulate strings and provide classic ‘60s pop sounds, was something Sedaka could have done without entirely. Some of the most enjoyable numbers were Sedaka’s most minimal. He displayed a confidence and showmanship that made his solo numbers the best.

The show featured two videos: a montage showing the artists who have covered Sedaka’s songs, such as Abba, Queen, Elvis, Cher and Clay Aiken; and a showing of one of the first-ever music videos. In the video for “Calendar Girl,” Sedaka croons as a different girl for each month struts in outfits ranging in coverage from mini skirts to beachwear. Music videos haven’t changed much in 50 years.

Sedaka didn’t limit himself completely to hits from his youth. He sang a few newer compositions, including the debut of a samba-like song off his new CD and a few of his songs from over the past few years. His newer song was catchy and upbeat, and was a marked and welcome departure from his earlier style. Another of his more recent compositions was very similar to his early music.

Alex Caddell, a second-year biological engineering major, came for one of his honors classes. Though he had not heard Sedaka’s music before, he found it to be “pretty good. I’d never really heard his stuff before.”

Patti Gillian of Houston said she grew up listening to Sedaka in middle and high school. “[The show] was wonderful. It brought back so many wonderful memories,” Gillian said. “He still has it. The only thing was, I thought ‘Man, he looks old,’ but from there I thought, ‘Man, you’re old too!’”

Campus Currents: Collins Center for the Arts