The Blues Brothers put the fun in formal wear

Geoff Carter

Wednesday, June 9, 1999 | 3:08 a.m.

This article first appeared on March 3, 1999.

James Belushi counts. Halfway through the Blue Brothers' hot rendition of "Sweet Home Chicago," he stepped ahead of brethren Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman to declare: "One and one is two! Two and two is four!"

The crowd hung on the count. And before anyone could say anything snide about the possible limits of Belushi's education, he added, "I can see my brother Jake coming through that back door!"

With that aside, Belushi almost literally brought the House down. The Jake in question is Jake Blues, better known as the enduring spirit of John Belushi, and the "back door" belongs to Las Vegas' new House of Blues venue at Mandalay Bay, which the Brothers christened with a deliciously loud and hazy barrage of blues/funk that would have done James' late brother proud.

Unlike many other vanity bands put together by actors (pray we seen the last of Keanu Reeves' Dogstar), the Brothers know how to rock. Aykroyd and company surround themselves with seasoned (read: spicy) players, not two-dimensional hacks, and it's easy to get caught up in their thick grooves.

"Flip Flop and Fly" cooked with real gas and a killer mouth-harp solo by Aykroyd, while the other Blues took turns at the vocal and danced as if electrified. The energy level stayed high, but kicked up a notch after killer vamps by blues legends Koko Taylor and Buddy Guy.

The invitation-only crowd boogied hard, bringing to mind a comment made by Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett after a kamikaze Wall Street gig: "I love it when the suits and ties clap." Only a real family could put that kind of crowd at ease so quickly. Nothing counts like experience.