The Rascals Set to Reunite for Three Shows – What Groups Would You Love to See Reunite [VIDEO]

A couple of years back, I’d gone to the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove with my wife and some friends to see a show headlined by Tommy James and the Shondells featuring as his opening act, Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals.

Great show, but for one thing.

No “rest of” the Rascals.

And it got me to thinking…how great would it be to see the band who’s music was very much a part of my life growing up reunited on stage.

I’d seen offshoots of the band here and there, but always held out hope that they’d put aside whatever differences kept them apart all those years; and give us fans a treat.

My wish is coming true, because, according to this, Jersey music icon Steven Van Zandt will be accomplishing that very task:

Steven Van Zandt has persuaded the Rascals to do a set of shows that will not only be the first concerts the quartet has performed together since the early ’70s, but will also tell the group’s history through archival footage, narration and dramatic film segments.

“It’s a hybrid of a live concert and a Broadway show, through a mixed-media presentation of a theatrical event,” said Mr. Van Zandt, who is producing the shows.

“The four original guys will be performing, as they would in a regular concert, with a couple other elements mixed in – their own narration of their story, the history of the Rascals, done on these big screens, and then segments of actors playing them at critical points in their career.”

The show will run for three nights, from Dec. 13 through 15, at the newly reopened Capitol Theater in Port Chester, N.Y. Mr. Van Zandt has started a fund-raising campaign on the Kickstarter Web site to help underwrite the production, although he intends to finance it himself even if no donations are raised.

Gene Cornish, the Rascals’ guitarist, said the band agreed at that point to play another group of concerts if Mr. Van Zandt, who arranged the benefit, could come up with a show concept that would be more meaningful that a simple reunion to make money.

He said he and the other band members — the keyboardist and singer Felix Cavaliere, the vocalist Eddie Brigati and the drummer Dino Danelli – were bowled over by the script Mr. Van Zandt wrote for them. “I was just overwhelmed to read our legacy on printed paper,” Mr. Cornish said.

The Rascals, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, were one of the most popular blue-eyed soul groups of the mid-1960s, emerging from the post-Twist bar scene in New York and New Jersey.

The show, titled “Once Upon a Dream,” will feature lighting and visual elements designed by Marc Brickman, a veteran who most recently did Roger Waters’s “Wall” tour. Tickets go on sale on Sept. 28.

It’s a tremendous idea…one I’d love to see happen.

But we all know 3 shows in Westchester won’t suffice.

Throw us a bone down here in Jersey…a few nights at the Count Basie Theatre surely would be nice.

Which bands would you love to see reunite for, at least, a couple of shows?