A concert review by Rick Ray

It's going to be hard to describe what happened here today but I'll give it a shot. Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush started at around 2:30pm Saturday the 11th of December and stopped somewhere around 1:00am Sunday morning December 12th with two breaks of about an hour each in this time slot.

They started things out with "A New Rock N Roll" off of Child Of The Novelty (1974), a song I had never seen Frank play live in person, and Ieve seen him on MANY occasions. They went through a Hendrix set which included "Are You Experienced", "Axis Bold As Love" and "The Wind Cries Mary". His version of "The Answer" from Mahogany Rush IV (1976) was the best I've ever heard him play it. Frank went through his whole career this day, from 1973 to today. When the first set was over, I thought, "how is he going to top that!" The second set was even better, playing cuts I think no one ever thought they'd hear Frank play live. "Tryin' Anyway" from Strange Universe (1975) leading into "Go Strange" from The Power Of Rock N Roll (1981) was a big highlight for me.

I'll make this statement right now, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush are more progressive than just about any band that flies that banner. Mixing jazz, rock, blues in a blender from Mars with complex passages and time signatures flawlessly executed with twists and turns that keep you hanging on to your seat. Again, when the second set was over, I thought, eno way can those first two sets be topped, plus, hees got to be running out of steam by now.i Keep in mind, most bands doing concerts play an average of 1 hour and 15 minutes-an hour and a half at the most. Well, Frank's third set was so intense and on fire, they could've combined all the Fire Departmentes in Ohio to try and extinguish Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush and would not have been able to. This set included some of Frank's epic pieces including, "Strange Universe" ('75), "He's Calling" from Eye Of The Storm (2000), "Something's Comine Our Way" from What's Next ('80) and Dave Goode still had the energy to throw in a very intense drum solo. I can't even list all the songs that were played-there was between 40 and 50 songs and for those who are familiar with Frank, most of his material aren't short songs, especially live. For those unlucky people who missed this unbelievable event there is a movie being made so you can witness this. Not just a concert DVD, a movie! I have never in my life witnessed anything like this and I doubt highly anyone will ever attempt something like this in the future. When the DVD comes out grab it. Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush will blow your mind!

Rick Ray