Chuck Berry be good – but brief

Joe Delaney

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:44 a.m.

Chuck Berry and company performed an extremely well-received -- but short -- 70 minutes before a good crowd in the excellent Orleans Hotel showroom. The Chuck Berry orchestra consisted of piano, guitar, bass guitar and drums. Berry's daughter Ingrid opened the show with 15 minutes, singing three selections which came to life in the last of the three, the blues standard "Got My Mojo Working," which also featured some nice harmonica work by her.

The "orchestra" was desultory until Ingrid introduced her father. Then it and the audience came to life when he opened with "Roll Over, Beethoven" and others from the extensive Chuck Berry songbook. He paused for a tasteless "booger" joke, lost the audience then brought them back again with a rousing "Johnny B. Goode." It was time for the Berry dance and his classic duck walk, which resulted in the first standing ovation.

Ingrid returned for a version of "Blues Around the Clock," first made famous some 50 years ago by the late Willie Bryant at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. This was followed by another blues song where Chuck invited the assemblage to come onstage and dance. Those who weren't dancing were standing and clapping. Suddenly, Berry played himself offstage and never returned. The band walked off and it was over. He had been onstage alone for less than 45 minutes.

Chuck Berry was a major contributor to rock 'n' roll and a profound influence, along with Bo Diddley and B.B. King, on the Beatles and the British invasion that followed. His place in pop music history is assured. This is more than I can say for his future as a Las Vegas headliner.