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Read on for this show report from Carol, aka mom_surfing. She caught The Ventures live at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia on March 15, 2006.

some observations and thoughts about the ventures show at the
birchmere in alexandria, virginia wednesday night.

the birchmere. what a great place for a show. just the right size,
maximum capacity of 500 and a great new sound system which is only
about a year old. the show starts as scheduled at 7:30 and is over by
9:30. this would be my only complaint, but they do serve dinner before
or during the show, so i guess that's the reason for the time.

the ventures. having never seen them before or even thinking i would
ever get a chance to see them, i was completely absorbed in the show
which seemed to last about 10 minutes instead of the one hour and 45
minutes they played. it left me wanting more. they signed autographs
and album covers and guitars after the show. had the line not been so
long i would have asked don wilson if he started 'walk don't run' with
an A major or an A minor chord. (as discussed in the past here)

the line up was don wilson, nokie edwards, bob spaulding and mel
taylors son (leon?) on drums.

they played a lot of tunes, most of them surf instrumentals. they
rocked out hard on 'penetration', one of my personal favorites of the
night. other favorites 'bumblebee twist' and 'slaughter on 10th ave'.
i thought the only weak tune was 'apache'. (this is my opinion, to me
no one does it better than hank marvin) they also did a few vocals
sung by don wilson and 'johnny b good' sung by leon. (i do hope i'm
getting these names right)

one thought, why haven't these guys been inducted into the rock and
roll hall of fame? i know this discussion has come up many times.

i know there's also been discussion on whether the ventures are a true
surf instrumental band. i'd say they came pretty close to being one
wednesday night. (i didn't mention this to start any arguing, it's
just a thought)

after the show as we were standing up by the stage checking out their
equipment i over heard someone say that he wondered how many guitar
players were there and that he was guessing probably about 9 out of
every 10. (there were over 300 people in attendance)

looking forward to hearing about the show in new york tonight.

up next...satans pilgrims and the nebulas in nj

carol