This year is the 25th anniversary of the Rock 'n' Roll legend Ricky Nelson's tragic accident. Nelson, the band of Ricky’s twins Matthew and Gunnar, are on the Ricky Nelson Remembered 25th Anniversary Tour, traveling across the country. (The tour will be extended to Europe next year.) Many of the places they perform are where Ricky performed. And the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano is one of them.
I arrived at the Coach House half an hour prior to the start time of the concert. The house was packed! Privacy didn't exist here. Every table was shared by about 15 people. Many were having dinners. The food looked good and smelt good. I squeezed into the last spot at a table, asked the people whether they came here often for dinner. Denise from Oceanside said it was her first time at the Coach House. She was with her friends, who followed the Nelsons everywhere. And she was a fan of the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a popular TV show about the Nelson family in the 50s and 60s. Denise's friends Wanda from Ventura was busy showing others photos of her and the Nelson brothers at various locations. She has been to the Nelsons' concert between 100 and 300 times - somewhere, she lost count.
I'd be honest with you, I knew little about the Nelsons prior to this month. One week before the concert, I had the pleasure to phone-interview Gunnar. And I googled prior to the talk. Something they said stuck with me, “The genesis of this whole thing wasn’t a matter of money, it was a matter of keeping the songs around. Because if the songs don’t die, to a certain extent [my dad] won’t either.” What a way to show their love to their dad! And what a way to carry the family name! The Nelsons is the only family in the Guinness Book for World Records that has three successive generations who reached the #1 hits on the charts. Their grandfather Ozzie Nelson had a #1 hit with "And Then Some" in 1935; Ricky Nelson had #1 hits with "Poor Little Fool" in 1958 and "Travelin' Man" in 1961; Matthew and Gunnar had #1 hit with "Love and Affection" in 1990.
We know meeting expectation is tough, and often frustrating. In the Nelson brothers' case, it was meeting "great" expectation. I asked Gunnar how he dealt with it, and if there was ever fear of failure. Gunnar said he kept it positive, and never pressured himself. There has been up’s and down’s. All he cares is that he is giving his best in the situation. And he can take pride in that. The Nelsons equate themselves as artists. Gunnar was bold to explain to me the difference between an artist and a product (celebrity). A product lives for magazines and spotlights. But an artist is 100% real, and knows what is important in life is the little things. His self-description was proved at the concert. The two brothers showed an enormous amount of joy on stage. Like Gunnar says, he is happy when he has a guitar in his hands.
When I was talking to the fans before the concert, I said Gunnar impressed me as a very cool guy. The fans nodded their heads hard, and said “Matthew is very cool too!” Immediately after the show started, I realized that too. Both of them are great entertainers, have excellent sense of humor, and don't mind making fun of themselves. When Gunnar introduced Matthew, he said “This is not Ellen DeGeneres.” Ah, Matthew does have a similar hair style! The Nelson brothers are also caring. When a kid in the audience was resting with his head on the table, Gunnar folded up his jacket, and put it under the kid's head. After the show, they greeted every fan at the exit. Every fan had a story to tell. Matthew and Gunnar fully engaged themselves each of the conversations. And they know many of the fans by the names!
Okay, having much said about their characters, how was the show? It was multi-media. Matthew and Gunnar performed many of Ricky’s and their own hits. Every so often, I heard someone say “Gosh, this is really good!” Between the songs, they showed video clips from the Ozzie’s days to the baby twins rocking Huggies with guitars, and filled us in on many funny stories behind the scene. In my personal opinion, Ricky Nelson Remembered is a show without the boundary of generation. The rock ‘n’ roll era was before my time. But this night, I really enjoyed the music and stories that I would not have known otherwise!
LA and OC, being the Nelsons' home base, is where they kick-started the tour. But the rest of the country will soon be able to enjoy their performances. Check out the tour schedule on their website. (http://www.thenelsonbrothers.com/gigdates.html)
