Neil Sedaka is arguably the most famous nonmember of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But Saturday night at the Collins Center for the Arts, the singer-songwriter overlooked that snub, instead showing off his 70-year-old pipes, which are almost as silky and smooth as the young pop-rock voice heard in the early hit “Next Door To An Angel” and re-emerging in the 1970s in the ballad “Laughter in the Rain.”
“I was known as the king of the tra-la-las and dooby-doos,” Sedaka told a packed house of baby boomers and their parents, some of whom may have seen him perform at the Brewer Auditorium in the 1960s. “I signed a recording contract with RCA Victor and was their new sex symbol since they had just signed Elvis Presley.”
Dressed in a pale yellow shirt and jacket, string tie and black trousers, and having shed his hairpiece, Sedaka looked like a rock ’n’ roll pioneer anxious to share his life and music. During a 90-minute show that included footage of Elton John, ABBA, Sheryl Crow and Homer Simpson crooning his songs — there was even a seminal video of a young Sedaka belting out “Calendar Girl” — he sang seated at a piano, hopping up after each song to discuss his life.
“I sold 50 million records around the world from 1958 to 1963,” he said. “Then in 1963 a group came out called the Beatles. Not good. I stopped singing for 12 years. People would see me on the street and ask, ‘Didn’t you used to be Neil Sedaka’?”
He surfed into the ’70s on a soft-rock wave that thrust him back onto the charts with such songs as “Love Will Keep Us Together,” “Bad Blood” and his most covered composition, “Solitaire.”
Backed by a capable quartet and a woman singer, Sedaka moved from hit to hit and performed a pleasant new ballad titled “You.” At times the concert felt like one of those PBS oldies fundraising shows, but Sedaka earned his chops as a gracious host and pop innovator not content to rest on his laurels.
He deserves credit for not making his audience wait for his early hits, singing “Oh! Carol,” “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” and other confections in the show’s first 20 minutes. The highlights came later, though, when Sedaka performed exquisite arrangements of the slow ballad version of “Breaking Up” along with a heavenly “Laughter in the Rain.”
Cynics can argue how special this opening season gala was in light of past openers that included Yo Yo Ma, Roberta Flack and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. And Sedaka failed to personalize his performance by mentioning the newly renovated concert hall or previous Maine visits. But Saturday’s show in Orono moved the audience to laughter and tears, maybe even making a few feel young again. Seventy never looked so good.