MUSIC REVIEW : THE EVERLYS GO BACK TO MEMORIES

The Everly Brothers’ reunion tour was such a joy last year, not simply because it brought back together two of the sweetest and most influential voices in rock history, but because the duo showed they were interested in more than just nostalgia.

Drawing from their excellent “EB ‘84” comeback album, they showed that their distinctive vocal harmonies, applied to new songs by Don Everly, Paul McCartney and others, were still pertinent to contemporary pop.

That’s what made the Everlys’ oldies-heavy concert Thursday at the Pacific Amphitheatre so frustrating. The 90-minute set was virtually identical, both in content and structure, to their 1983 reunion concert in London, which was recorded and released as a live album. Even the between-song patter, such as when Don announced, ‘I’m still the oldest,” was unchanged from previous performances.

The only relief from the backward-looking nature of the show came with McCartney’s soaring “On the Wings of a Nightingale” and Mark Knopfler’s gently moving “Why Worry,” which will be on a new album they said will be released in October. In fact, guitarist Albert Lee, who led the Everlys’ powerful five-man band, nearly stole the show with a riveting performance of his rollicking “Country Boy,” currently a hit single for Ricky Skaggs.

With the likes of McCartney, Knopfler and others writing superb new songs with the Everlys in mind, it would be a shame if the pair, who are at the Greek Theatre today and Sunday, continue relying on the old memories rather than trying to create new ones.