On the Town: Lost rock royalty comes to the Starlight Bowl

By David Laurell

Aug. 13, 2013 12 AM PT

With John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Freddie Mercury of Queen and “the King of Pop” Michael Jackson all having left this world, the opportunity to see these icons perform live is now only available to inhabitants of rock ‘n’ roll heaven.

But those who attended this year’s Starlight Bowl Summer Concert Series did get as close as is humanly possible to seeing those late greats of rock royalty.

Thanks to a magical mimicry tour provided by outstanding impersonators, including the Fab Four as the Beatles and an incredible cast of Michael Jackson stylists who perform as Moonwalker, even those who never got to see these legends live were given a more-than-decent idea of what it was like to be in their presence.

That opportunity continued as the Starlight Bowl’s 2013 series wrapped up with performances by Led Zeppelin and Queen tribute bands Led Zepagain and Queen Nation this past Saturday evening.

Along with Bostyx, which performs the music of Boston and Styx, the High Street Band and Ozomatli, the six-show series that made up this year’s Starlight Bowl offerings were supplemented with a special engagement by the legendary crooner Engelbert Humperdinck.

With three of this year’s concerts completely sold out, Burbank’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department Recreation Supervisor Vickie Cusumano, who along with Deputy Director Gabby Flores leads the Starlight Bowl team, said the city pays great attention to the feedback and suggestions it gets from concert-goers.

“We’ve tried to present a little bit of everything to make everybody happy,” Cusumano said. “The tribute bands we’ve booked have proved to be of top quality and a huge success. That is our goal — to bring quality entertainment into Burbank. We’ve done that and people have responded in a very positive way.”

Among the notables who enjoyed Swan Montgomery, Jim Wootten, Jim Kersey and Jimmy Sakurai as Led Zepagain and Gregory Finsley as Freddie Mercury were City Councilman Jess Talamantes and his wife, Sandy; former Mayor Jef Vander Borght and his wife, Susan; television personality Katie Daryl and rocker Marky DeSade of the band Devil’s Alley.

DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.