Starship Still Soaring At Philly Area Show

GLENSIDE, PA — "We Built This City."

It was a No. 1 song that played on radio and in a constant MTV rotation in the mid-1980s, powered by the soaring vocals of Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick.

The Jefferson Airplane spinoff soared on the music charts during that time with more No. 1 hits: "Sara" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now."

Now 40 years later, long after Slick retired, Thomas returned with his latest version of Starship, showcasing his vocal prowess on those hits and others at the age of 76 during a show Thursday night at the Keswick Theatre.

The setlist featured a healthy dose of Starship, Jefferson Starship, and Jefferson Airplane classics along with several holiday classics, a John Lennon cover, and a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin."

Before Thomas ever arrived on the Starship in the late 1970s, he already had a hit under his belt with "Fooled Around and Fell In Love," the Elvis Bishop Band tune that was also featured in the show to the delight of the crowd.

Backed by a four-piece band and Slick-compliment Chelsee Foster on vocals, Thomas revived songs that spanned decades on radio and video.

The Jefferson Airplane is considered among the greatest psychedelic bands of all time, forming in the 1960s in the San Francisco area along with other flower-power groups like the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Guitarist Paul Kantner and vocalist Marty Balin got Jefferson Airplane flying along with drummer Spencer Dryden, bassist Jack Casady, and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Adding Slick, the group soared during the Summer of Love, playing Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festival.

Slick's classic hits followed with "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" considered by Rolling Stone magazine as two of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Both were featured back-to-back here as Foster tried to conjure up Slick's musical might and the spirit of the 1960s.

Jefferson Airplane splintered at the end of the 1960s as Casady and Kaukonen formed Hot Tuna (and acoustic Hot Tuna) while Kantner created Jefferson Starship, bringing on board Slick and later Balin.

The group produced several Balin ballad hits like "Miracles" before Balin and Slick left, allowing Kantner to add Thomas to the fray.

Starship then spun off the main ship with a more pop-oriented musical direction. With Slick's return, she and Thomas formed a vocal duo that delivered hit after hit for several years.

While a version of Jefferson Starship still tours (they will play the Parx Excite Center in early January), Thomas carries on with Starship's legacy, and those of the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.

Two big Jefferson Starship hits came on strong with the opener powerhouse "Jane," and the near-set closer "Find Your Way Back." Thomas also squeezed in "Set the Night to Music" and "Wild Again," featured on the Tom Cruise movie "Cocktail" soundtrack.

But with the holidays here, he was able to showcase six holiday classics ("Silver Bells," "It's The Most Beautiful Time of the Year," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Foster, and a Thomas vocal showcase on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

Thomas took on the Journey classic and John Lennon's "Happy X-Mas (The War Is Over) as encores.

But this show was really about keeping the torch of this songbook alive from a classic group that spawned two other classic groups, allowing Thomas to carve his niche as a band member who made his mark, along with these legends like Slick, Balin, and Kantner.

Starship is still soaring out of the ashes of Jefferson Airplane 60 years later.