Donovan Live
“I knew this was not what I was expecting nor what most of the audience was either.”
Donovan: From Sunshine Superman to Flip Flop in 50 Years?
By Robyn Perry, Music Reporter and Ritual Arts Radio Host
I could not even believe it. My friend Allan was actually the one who told me the news as we made our way across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco one evening: Donovan was finally touring America again after all these years for his 50th Anniversary Tour – and he was coming to San Francisco! I had been waiting to see him for ten years – and I was only 18. I purchased the tickets for my mother and I the very moment they went on sale last spring and even contemplated buying the $500 VIP package to meet him. I decided against it, even though I’ve been madly in love with Donovan for more than half my mortal lifespan.
The concert was at the Regency Ballroom on Wednesday, October 12, 2016. The line outside seemed eager enough and was made up of mainly older patrons wearing everything from Rolling Stones, Who, and Beatles t-shirts to bands more like Kiss, Motley Crue, and even Metallica, talking about rock concerts past, adorned with pins and other similar memorabilia, showing their general love for rock and roll. However, when I got inside the ballroom and saw that the merchandise stand was one small little table that wasn’t even selling t-shirts and that the stage’s set-up was practically blank save for some basic lighting and one small, fuzzy white rug for Donovan to sit on, I knew this was not what I was expecting nor what most of the audience was either.
Everyone packed into their extremely close seats on the ballroom floor like sardines as the show started seemingly later than promised. It began with one of Donovan’s cousins from Scotland performing a poem about Donovan’s life. It was very beautiful, but you could tell everyone in the audience was getting annoyed by the length of it – they were here to see Donovan, not his cousin. When Donovan finally took the stage, I could barely hear or see him though I was only about five rows back on the ballroom floor and I was even wearing my glasses. All of the lights in the house were off except for a few weird blue lights focused on Donovan which made it even more difficult to see him – probably so people wouldn’t take pictures. His voice was very mumbly and unclear. Nevertheless, the music was beautiful and I was able to sing along easily, but my mother, who isn’t such an avid fan as I am, had to ask me multiple times which song he was playing – not because she didn’t know the song, but because she could not hear the lyrics under his mumbled breath.
There was an intermission during the concert, which I thought was strange and have never heard of, even after seeing artists of similar ages to Donovan such as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the Who for their 50th anniversary at the Oakland Coliseum, The Beach Boys headed by Mike Love, and Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone. However, when the intermission was over and I went back to my seat, virtually everyone around me had left. They were not just late getting back to their seats – they had left for good. Both parties to our right and left and nearly the entire row in front of us had simply left. Throughout the intermission, I had heard a lot of negative-sounding comments from many different groups of people at the show. People did not seem to enjoy squinting through bad lighting to attempt to watch a 70-year-old folk singer sit on a fuzzy rug and unintelligibly mumble out 1960s psychedelic anthems on his 50th anniversary tour. Donovan was in San Francisco, only 2 miles from The Fillmore and less than 3 miles from the epicenter of the counterculture movement, the Haight-Ashbury no less, without the slightest bit of theatrics… or even proper lighting for that matter. My mom and I left early as well – not because we wanted to, but because the intermission made the show run until after 11pm and we did not want to miss our BART train home.
To say I was disappointed with Donovan’s 50th anniversary concert in San Francisco would be an understatement. I was absolutely heartbroken. I had been waiting to see this man – this one beautiful folk singer – for nearly 60% of my life and when I finally got to see him, he really dropped the ball. The show was not good and the audience knew it – I could feel it throughout the entire concert – an air of disappointment. Usually when a band puts on a 50th anniversary show, like I had seen with The Who a few months earlier, there are lights, action, and most of all, fan excitement and lots of merchandise to be had and to sell. There was none of this at Donovan’s show. Donovan himself, who reached his height during the hippie movement, didn’t even seem to be very enthusiastic about being in San Francisco, its core. I mean, I know he’s a folk singer and not a huge rock star, but I at least wanted a dang t-shirt and to be able to see him, especially at a venue as small as the Regency.
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