This has been the summer of tribute concerts for me. I went to several free concerts near me in Forest Park, Queens to see tributes to Rod Stewart, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, The Miami Sound, and Elvis Presley. But I was excited to pay for one tribute concert – The Yacht Rock Revue at The Rooftop at Pier 17.  First, because I grew up with that soft rock music of the 1970s and second, because I have not been to the relatively new venue and I wanted to check it out.

I have not been to Pier 17 in some time, so it was nice to see the old ships still there along with latest additions and improved restaurants/shopping.

The multi-escalator rides up to The Rooftop are worth it. The views are beautiful. Right behind the stage is the Brooklyn Bridge. And looking around you can look across the East River to Brooklyn or the buildings in downtown and midtown Manhattan.

You may notice a number of people are wearing yacht caps. Both large and small.

My friend Mike, his friend, and I stood in front of the soundboard, where we could lean against the barrier. There was one row of benches on either side of us, in front of the VIP section, and if I go to this venue again, I will get there early and get a seat on the bench where I can sit or stand.

The stage has large screens on either side, so even though we had a good view of the performers, we also got close-ups.

This is The Hotter Dads in Tight Jeans tour supporting their debut album of originals, which is called Hot Dads in Tight Jeans. The band members are Peter Olson, Nicholas Niespodziani, Mark Cobb, Greg Lee, Mark Bencuya, Mark Dannells, and David Freeman. It was a lot of fun to listen to and sing along to songs that I have not heard in a long time. The performers played their parts beautifully – both musically and visually. Bell jeans with clunky shoes. Perfect harmonies. One of the singers noted that a lot of yacht rock songs reference NYC. And then the clouds parted and the moon made its appearance, so that there we were between the moon and NYC.

I checked out setlist.fm and someone had posted a partial setlist, so I filled in the blanks. As you can see these are all songs of a certain time and place and the two originals fit in with the covers. When they encored with “Baker Street” I remembered a question someone asked me long ago. “Name the other hit song and the group that this singer was with when he sang it.”  Do you know the answer? I did.