Fairytale America (2012)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik

Location: Trieste / Politeama Rossetti / Italy
Concert date: 28.03.2012
Attendance: 1700
Ticket price: gallery: €24.00 / €28.00 // stalls: €40.00 / €45.00 / €50.00

America, the legendary “west coast” rock band that earned its place in the league of famous acts in the seventies and eighties with hits like A Horse with No Name (an evergreen everyone knows, even if they’d rather not), plus Sister Golden Hair, Daisy Jane, Ventura Highway, Survival, Tin Man, You Can Do Magic and Lonely People. A band that’s widely revered on home soil in the USA is awfully hard to catch in Europe. Interestingly, though, they visit Italy regularly. They play at least two or three shows a year in Italy. And they’ve been doing it for twenty years running. A handful of lucky souls with Slovenian passports, fans of this band, thus got a rare chance to finally catch America practically on their doorstep, in the charming atmosphere of Trieste’s Politeama Rossetti theater!

In 2012, America is still the immortal duo of Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell! Since 1973, they’ve been backed, both in the studio and on stage, by Willie Leacox as permanent drummer and percussionist, while Michael Woods, on guitars, extra keyboards and backing vocals, has stuck with the duo since 1978, and the bass guitar has been in the hands of Richard Campbell for the last twelve years, another seasoned musician who has also worked with Natalie Cole in the past.

At exactly nine in the evening, the taped intro Miniature led us into a light, relaxed sway, with a shy little breeze blowing gently over the organic backbone of the hit Tin Man (»Holiday«, 1974). The band instantly showed off the essence of its trademark protective attributes, the ones that built its commercial success and artistic credibility. A richly filled soundscape of natural sonic structures, with lead vocal melodies masterfully woven in, infectious, under-the-skin seductive melodies that catch fire from the first listen, backed by a one-of-a-kind combination of multi-part vocal harmonizing.

America built their brilliant, harmonically full-bodied performance on an ironclad repertoire of their biggest hits, via You Can Do Magic, which was followed by the folk-tinged Don’t Cross The River, one of the few songs originally sung by Dan Peek, a member who left in 1977 and passed away last year – here his vocal duties were taken over by Gerry Beckley – and then by the dainty, sensitive Daisy Jane, where Beckley’s recognizable, “rainy”-hued voice stepped into the spotlight over piano accompaniment.

The infectious melodicism the band has always cultivated could easily turn up in the playlists of anyone into The Eagles, and onward to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young or the Doobie Brothers. Of course, without the picturesque instrumentation of noble craftsmanship (which applies especially to the use of six- and twelve-string instruments) we couldn’t speak of such sincere delivery of a genuinely pure acoustic, yet harmonically refined musical mosaic, in which the vocal harmonies get generous exposure and, as already mentioned, conjure up that important mood element that makes America so recognizable. And, last but not least, in the eyes of all fans of their music, rightly hallowed and cherished. We got a thorough helping of songs from the debut »America«. Six in total (counting the mega hit Horse With No Name)! After Ventura Highway came a short pause in which Beckley explained the background of the band’s formation. The band actually formed in Great Britain, and the members listened to lots of music that was emerging on British soil as well as in North America. He also didn’t forget to add that America released a new album, »Back Pages«, last July. It’s an album of covers of artists who had a major influence on America’s sound and style. So they tackled Woodstock by Joni Mitchell, followed by A Road Song, originally by Fountains Of Wayne.

Next came a perfect combination of joined-up songs, Cornwall Blank In Hollywood, which follows the interpretation of the version also found on the band’s live release »Live In Concert« (2008). That was followed by one more cover, this time Till I Hear It From You by Marshall Crenshaw, most popularized in the nineties by Gin Blossoms in their version. The Border is America’s link to the rise of AOR in the eighties, a song written in collaboration with Russ Ballard, accompanied by a projection of the original video on a screen in the background. This nice bit of variety in the repertoire was followed by the mischievous Woman Tonight, backed by an infectious combination of funk and reggae rhythmic figures, which continues with the dreamy, piano-driven Only In Your Heart, and the hall wakes up for The Mamas And The Papas cover California Dreaming, naturally in America’s proper stripped-down acoustic dress. In the hit Lonely People, Beckley sits down at the piano, takes over Peek’s harmonica and the lead vocal, while Bunnell takes the capo off the mic and clamps it onto the neck of his acoustic guitar.On The Way Home was the last in the bundle of covers the band took on that evening. Originally by Buffallo Springfield, it was written by Neil Young.

The thunderous Sandman solemnly announces that the concert is nearing its end. A majestic mystery shackled to a stretch of electric guitars (Bunnell grabs a Telecaster) and unique projections in the background that bring together the defining events of 1969, from the expansion of rock music, man’s first steps on the Moon and the protests against the Vietnam war, to the hippie boom and so on… One of the most beautiful, downright hypnotic moments of the concert, which in its fervor lures you into the parallel world of a miraculous fairytale of times gone by, when the world was still full of faith in moral values and we knew how to cultivate and show love and compassion in a healthy way, without pretense (and without a pre-scripted calculation of personal profit). With the mega hit Sister Golden Hair, the band closed the regular set. A mere hour and twenty minutes.

Let me mention a hugely important element that Michael Woods brought with his presence on stage, filling the spacious room above the acoustic layer of the songs with picturesque electric guitar work, with a refined feel and in the style of a seasoned master. He couldn’t exactly cut loose in America’s repertoire, but short, well-thought-out and sophisticated moves, woven in at precisely chosen spots with clear motivic charisma, confirmed this musician’s great qualities.

While Woods stuck to various types of Gibson guitars, from the classic Les Paul to the famous semi-acoustic ES 335, Bunnell and Beckley held Taylor acoustic guitars in their hands most of the time. Beckley also strapped on a Rickenbacker 360 and a Gibson ES-175, both semi-acoustic, during the concert, and Bunnell, as already mentioned, a Fender Telecaster during Sandman. The building of an exceptional soundscape that touched every last, however hidden, depth of the listener’s soul, thawing it irreversibly.

The obligatory encore was fulfilled by two more big, instantly recognizable hits, Survival and the especially long and agonizingly awaited Horse With No Name. By the finale, both brought the audience to their feet, and they backed the band on stage with thunderous applause until the last note rang out and the last bar died away in the hall. Ovations flood the theater, and most of the people in the stalls simply stay rooted to their spots for a few moments after the lights come on in the hall. Enchanting and magical! The fans of this band came to Trieste that evening for their full payoff, and Beckley and Bunnell and company confirmed that even after 42 years of defiance, they keep an infectiously charismatic presence with clearly recognizable contours of songwriting authenticity!