Craig Bakay | Jun 13, 2018
“We had so much fun last year, we just had to come back,” said Jack Francis, aka The Happy Chef, who along with Tim Torgersen and Danny Young fronts the Kings Town Tenors. The singing threesome was backed by Tony Negus on keyboards and acoustic guitar, Chris Petersen on bass, Brandon Amey on guitar and newcomer Gary Barratt on drums.
After a lengthy discussion on which colour fedoras to wear (they went with the tan, same as last year), the Tenors took the stage for a 36-song, two-hour set.
Included were covers of five Beatles tunes, three Creedence Clearwater Revivals, three Leonard Cohens, a couple of Bee Gees, two James Taylor and a top 10 list of 60s/70s pop-rock tunes including Never Been to Spain, Short People, The Sound of Silence, Sloop John B, Walking in the Rain, Teach Your Children, Rock This Town and Bus Stop. Many tunes had the audience singing along.
And, just to show they still have those quasi-classical chops, they performed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pie Jesu, from his Requiem.
The band does “about a dozen or so gigs per year,” said Francis.
“We tend to practice in the winter,” said Torgersen.
And of course Francis is busy with his other life, that of The Happy Chef. In fact, he’s the one who prepared the meal that followed the show.
“They’re both (music and cooking), the loves of my life,” he said. “And combined they’re even better.
“As long as I’m happy with both parts.”
This year followed a slightly different format. Whereas last year, the meal was tapas (spanish appetizers), this year featured a sit-down dinner.
“Just so it wasn’t the same as last year,” said Francis.
The show was followed with a meal of pulled pork sliders, salad, pineapple-coconut cake and virgin mojitos.
“You can’t go wrong with pulled pork,” said Francis.
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