PERFORMING ARTS
The Box Tops -- from left, Gary Talley, John Evans, Alex Chilton, Bill Cunningham and Danny Smythe -- performed Friday at George Mason.
(Boxtops.com)
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The Box Tops
The oddest thing about the Box Tops' performance Friday at George Mason University, really, was its lack of oddness.
The Memphis boy band broke up in 1970, but four of the original members -- guitarist Gary Talley, bassist Bill Cunningham, drummer Danny Smythe, and vocalist and frontman Alex Chilton -- still play out together a few times a year.
Chilton was introduced on this night as "the legendary Alex Chilton," but the crowd hadn't come to hear the influential material from his post-Box Tops stints with Big Star or as a solo act. They came for the old hits.
And, as this show reminded fans, there really was a time when kids by the millions sang along to Chilton's pop. The Box Tops' first recording, "The Letter," was the top-selling single of 1967, more popular even than anything put out that year by Lennon and McCartney. Chilton was 16 at the time.
From the opening bars of "Cry Like a Baby" to the end of the hour-long set, the only people having a better time than the fans were in the band. Chilton dedicated "Soul Deep" to anybody "180 years old who might remember this."
That dedication drew nods and cheers, since some portion of the crowd attended the band's last appearance in Fairfax: a gig at the W.T. Woodson High School football stadium in 1969.
The rough patches in the performance only added to the fun. On "Fields of Clover," a song about a guy longing for a girl from the 'hood who married up, Chilton sang, "Maybe someday you'll wave to me from across the tracks."
He then threw his hands up in the air and smiled wide, admitting he'd forgotten the rest of the words.
The set ended with "The Letter," which Chilton described as "the biggest hit we've had -- yet!" That's probably how he felt about the song as a 16-year-old, too.
-- Dave McKenna
