OSWEGO, NY – Sunday was a different sort of Harborfest for many who attended the day’s events.
Fewer visitors, appeared to fill the venues, but most definitely a family feeling with familiar faces everyone. Many folks connected with people they hadn’t seen in town since last year’s event!
Nowhere was this more true than at Breitbeck Park where Herman’s Hermit’s front man, Peter Noone, put on a fabulous show.
It was obvious that this was a seasoned professional, having begun his career at age 15 in the 1960s.
“I love what I do, and I am a 17-year-old in a 63-year-old body!” he joked.
Even with the excessive humidity, Noone’s energy level never appeared to flag.
One audience member, a little girl of seven or eight, felt so sorry for the heavily perspiring singer, who finally broke down and took off his suit jacket, brought him an ice-cold water. For this she received a complimentary CD of the group’s hits. As a matter of fact, many of the children in the audience received CDs which were thrown into the crowd.
Noone joked he didn’t want to explain why he had so many unsold item going back through customs. But this would not have been a problem, with the long line that formed at the end of the performance waiting for their own signed copy to take home.
Noone signed for most of them, until his troupe had packed their equipment.
The approximately hour and a half performance included tribute numbers, some tongue in cheek, to other performers of the group’s early years. He strutted his stuff like Mick Jagger, and made a joke about following the Beatles for once in his life (referencing The Magical Mystery Tour tribute band which warmed up the crowd for The Herman’s Hermits).
The packed audience of mostly Baby Boomers brought grandchildren introducing them to the lighthearted and extremely pleasant musical group who have played Oswego before (although Noone might not recall his visit back in the 1980s to The Great Laker Inn).
Area residents cat-called to him when he made errors in his jokes regarding regional sites.
His jokes regarding our nuclear plant were directed to the Steam Station behind him, and he called Lake Ontario the Oswego River several times.
All in all, a fun time was had by all, and almost everyone left with a big smile on their faces, making for an extremely pleasant close to a fun-packed weekend event.
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i loved it my husband askd me if i wanted to go and i was like i dont know until i got on the internet looked up the band and knew some of the songs so i said yea and we went. i had fun tho , loved noones jokes…..