Three Dog Night rocks Libby at Big Sky Bash
<p>Three Dog Night's Cory Wells, Big Sky Bash 2015.</p>
Bash Crowd
<p>Three Dog Night's Paul Kingery, Big Sky Bash 2015.</p>
<p>Dancing to the tunes of Three Dog Night, Big Sky Bash 2015.</p>
<p>Three Dog Night's Michael Allsup, Big Sky Bash 2015.</p>
<p>Three Dog Night's Pat Bautz, Big Sky Bash 2015.</p>
<p>Three Dog Night's Danny Hutton, Big Sky Bash 2015.</p>
<p>Rockin' to the sounds of Three Dog Night with Jamie Spielmann, left and Katherine Spielmann 3.</p>
Intermittent rain during the day ended and the sun broke through the clouds to light up J. Neils Park in Libby Saturday night for the Big Sky Bash. Three Dog Night raised the roof, metaphorically, in the park during the fifth annual fundraiser concert for the CARD Foundation in front of a crowd of about 2,000 people. The foundation supports the Center for Asbestos-Related Diseases in Libby.
Opening with the chart-topping single, Family of Man, Three Dog Night showed attendees why their careers have spanned nearly five decades. With unforgettable music and lyrics that carry as powerful and meaningful a message as they did four-plus decades ago, the band kept the Libby crowd moving, shaking and dancing like nobody was watching.
“We’re just thankful for the community’s support,” said foundation president Zach McNew. “The support has helped this grow every year, and that’s what we want to do. We want to keep bringing bigger and better shows to Libby every year.”
In addition to their classic hits, including Black and White, Shambala and Old-Fashioned Love Song, the band played a few lesser known greats.
One such tune was a song they picked up from Randy Newman in 1974 and recorded for an album, but which never hit the charts for them, Leave Your Hat On. The song topped the pop charts in the United Kingdom for Tom Jones a decade later.
While playing Mama Told Me Not To Come, lead singer Cory Wells told the audience that after a show one night, a man approached him and said the song was the great-great-grandfather of rap music. Inspired by the comment, Wells put on his on hip-hop demonstration in the middle of the song.
The first part of the show ended with a rendition of the 1975 hit song Celebrate, but the crowd had neither seen nor heard enough and called the band back for an encore.
The encore opened with a new song, Prayer for the Children. The a cappella song featured lyrics reminiscent of the band’s earlier social justice messages.
“Can you hear the voice of the children softly pleading for silence in a shattered world,” the band sang, highlighting the plight of children living in war-torn parts of the world.
The band ended the encore with perennial favorite Joy to the World.