The “KING OF COOL” is back. Fans at The Kent Stage came in with their vintage Donnie Iris and the Cruisers t-shirts on and walked out with their brand-new Donnie Iris and the Cruisers t-shirts over top of their vintage ones. Donnie Iris was incredibly fired up during the show and was all over the stage, singing while on the floor, jumping around, and giving those iconic Donnie Iris screams all night long. His recovery from the medical issues over the last couple of years have not slowed him down, in fact, this was the most active I have seen him in years. He certainly gave everything he had and could give to his fanatics in the crowd.
Donnie Iris and the Cruisers played all the songs spanning their career and covered the Jaggerz “Rapper”, Wild Cherry “Play That Funky Music”, and finished their set with the Beatles “With A Little Help From My Friends”. One of those cool concert moments happened just before Donnie Iris and the Cruisers were going to play “This Time”, a gentleman in the crowd stood up and yelled to Donnie Iris that he and his wife got together with this song. This drew a large applause from the crowd and a huge smile from Donnie.
For a couple of songs, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers added a couple of “Cruisers” to the band as they were joined by a couple of family members on guitar and percussion and this just added to the charm of the show. Every fan in the crowd last night were all Donnie Iris and the Cruisers family members for the night.
One of the really fun parts of the show was when keyboardist Mark came out from behind his keyboards with an accordion strapped on. He told the crowd to yell out, “Hey Mark, what time is it?” Mark replied, “It’s POLKA TIME”! And, that it was.
The party ended way to soon as Donnie Iris and the Cruisers put on one of the best shows of the year. “LOVE IS LIKE A ROCK” and last night, that ROCK was ROLLING at The Kent Stage.
