Show could use more of Richard, less of Berry

Joe Delaney

Friday, July 23, 1999 | 9:08 a.m.

Two rock 'n' roll legends, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, should be filling the capacious 1,200-seat Caesars Palace Circus Maximus nightly, through Sunday, at the reasonable price of $55. Little Richard, born in 1932, is a year younger and light years more exciting than Berry. Richard was given the first 55 minutes, there was a 10-minute stage change, and Berry, the scheduled closer.

Richard had a 10-man ensemble including trumpet, two shouting saxes, two drummers, keyboards, guitars and a bass guitar, stalwarts all. The ensemble had the capacity crowd rocking before Little Richard, resplendent in a soft yellow ensemble, made his grand entrance. "Good Golly, Miss Molly" raised the level even higher and there was no letdown at any point.

Little Richard performed his hits catalogue and the songs of others such as "Jambalaya," "Blueberry Hill," "Be-Bop A Lu La" and The Weavers' monster folk hit of the late 1940s, "Good Night, Irene." His dialogue was funny, he talked just enough. The audience did not want to let him leave the stage. This was a bravura performance.

Richard's forte is a fast blues with breaks, although he is just as capable of laying down a slow, plaintive blues line as well. Many top rock 'n' roll performers are disciples of the Little Richard style, a mixture of old-time religion and good old rock 'n' roll, plus plenty of barrel-house piano.

It became apparent early thatBerry on vocals and guitar -- with top-notch pianist Denny Denman, bassist Jim Marsala and drummer, John Nasshan Jr. -- would have a hard time following Little Richard's revival meeting, especially after that 10-minute stage wait.

Berry did get off to a good start with "Roll Over Beethoven" but his 55 minutes seemed to take twice as long as Richard's 55 minutes. There were no early audience departures, but the response levels were down considerably. Berry and the trio did reprise a good bit of the Berry song book but with mixed results.

It was Berry's novelty hit with the double-meaning lyrics, "My Ding-A-Ling," which literally saved his portion of the performance. It was even more effective with the audience joining him on the lyrics. This was followed by "Rockin' and Rollin' Until the Break of Dawn," a take-off on the late Willie Bryant's classic, "Blues Around The Clock," where he makes love to his wife every hour on the hour. Berry's version had them doing it on the half-hour.

Berry didn't talk much and he could have talked even less, especially after a tasteless bit about "boogers" in his nose. This must be part of his performance because he told the same story recently at the Orleans.

This Caesars Palace show would have played much better with Berry doing 30 minutes to open and having Little Richard close with his 55 minutes. It would also eliminate that deadly 10-minute stage wait. By the time it was over I was as far down as I had been up for Little Richard.