December 63 Oh What A Night

Oh, what a night with Frankie Valli at the Palace

ALBANY -- And the hits just kept on coming. On his own and with his classic combo, The Four Seasons , Frankie Valli has been the voice behind almost 40 Top 40 hits. He hit most of those at the Palace Theatre on Thursday in a concert that was equal parts pure corn, raw nostalgia, total camp and sheer brilliance.

It was easy to chuckle at the goofy moves executed by the current kids dressed up as The Four Seasons, but it was just as easy to be amazed by Valli's still-supple voice.

Did he lip sync, as some in the audience suggested? I don't think so, but frankly I don't care either. He performed like an absolute trouper.

Valli's "but seriously ..." shtick between songs was so old-school Catskills that it seemed like he was developing a Jewish accent amid the New Jersey Italian whine.

But even that fit with the rules of the Las Vegas game he was playing.

What made Valli so special in the first place was the quality of his voice and the quality of the admittedly schmaltzy songs he sang. Surprisingly, those songs still have power. They sure did at the Palace.

Valli began the evening with "Dawn," and then the floodgates were open.

"Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," "Grease," "Rag Doll," "My Eyes Adored You," "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)," "Working My Way Back To You," "Let's Hang On ..."

His 11-piece ensemble, led by longtime music director Robbie Robinson , knocked out each tune in full show-band style, complete with wildly inappropriate guitar solos straight from 1979 rather than 1962 (at least they were still nostalgic).

His Seasons ( Todd Fournier , Brian Brigham , Brandon Brigham and Landon Beard) -- a friend called them the male equivalent of Rockettes -- gyrated, gesticulated and did their best to keep their jazz hands from flying off their arms. They sang, but not as much as they danced.

And amid all of this action, the music kept flowing with a force that negated the goofiness of the entire affair. It didn't hurt that Valli's fans were eagerly lapping up every note and laughing at (almost) every joke.

Midshow, he and his troupe offered a few tunes from his most recent disc, "Romancing the '60s," including "songs that were stolen from us" like " Let It Be Me" and "My Girl."

Yes, Valli hit the high notes in "Sherry." And, yes, he avoided other notes perched in the upper reaches. But all in all, it was one heck of a ride for a 77-year-old instrument.

Michael Eck is a frequent contributor to the Times Union .

Eriks musical diary: The Four Seasons - December, 1963 (Oh, What A ...

The Four Seasons with the wonderful lead singer Frankie Valli (who also gained a whole new audience with his solo hit "Grease" in 1978) had a huge string of hits in the 60's and 70's. "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" was their fourth American number one hit, released in December 1975. Their three previous number ones were "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" (both in 1962), and "Rag Doll" (1964), but of them all I think this one is by far the best. I was born in 1966, and can therefore no longer be called young and promising, more likely old and in the way. I used to be a music journalist, a despised reviewer of bad albums (especially by the people who made them), an enthusiastically kind reviewer of good albums and amazingly enough liked by a few people. There've been some years since I did any professional music writing, but for some time now I've been doing daily updates on Facebook where I've recommended one song per day. There are no rules to this exercise. I write about any song that pops into my mind, never taking into account what kind of genre it belongs to, if it's especially hip or not, where it's from, etc. The one really good thing about not writing professionally about music is that you can listen to exactly what you want, and even more importantly, not listening to things you don't want to. Getting your money from another source than music writing is highly recommended even if you don't get as many free albums as you once did. However, at times I miss doing it, and that's the motivation behind this blog. I hope you'll enjoy it!

The Billboard book of number one hits

Hit singles, top 20 charts from 1954 to the present day

1970s Pop Song Introduction, December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)

The Billboard book of number 1 hits

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 9th Edition, Complete Chart Information about America's Most Popular Songs and Artists, 1955-2009