July 31, 2002

The Hall and Oates show Friday at the State Theatre in Easton was a happy affair, indeed. Daryl and John returned to the Lehigh Valley for the first time in five years with sass, flash and smarts.

The sold-out concert was certainly happier than the one at Musikfest 1997. For one thing, the boys from suburban Philly clearly enjoyed playing in a friendly, old theater rather than on a harshly angled bandshell with blinding sun and pesky flies. This time, they brought back Charlie DeChant, the supremely hip, Rapunzel-haired saxophonist from their stiletto-sharp '80s band. He and old pal Tom ''T-Bone'' Wolk, the eminently funky bassist, were aided by John Corba, an organist with muscular chops, and Jeff Catania, who played with punkish energy and manic moves reminiscent of the professional wrestler, ''The Rock.''

A versatile cast enabled Oates and Hall to revamp, and vamp up, most of their hits. ''Say It Isn't So'' improved from polished pop to tropical breeze. Wolk stole the show with melodic, barnacle-scraping passages played blindly, behind his neck. ''She's Gone'' had especially playful vocals from the always-agile Hall, a pleasingly waxy buildup and an air of mature resignation rather than adolescent desperation. ''One On One,'' which Hall wrote as an anti-touring song, was unusually slinky, with a sweet jazzy playout.

''Every Time You Go Away'' began intriguingly as a gospel trio, featuring Corba's churchy waves and Hall's preacherly vows. It opened up with DeChant's astral solo and became a dodging strut, thanks to Catania's washboarding, wounding performance. A mean, trippy ''Maneater'' was dominated by DeChant, who offered a long, marvelously paced monologue that teased, bopped and seduced.

Even the one new song seemed comfortably old. ''Do It for Love,'' which appears on a studio/live hits-plus collection, had the slippery vocals of H&O's '70s white-soul heyday and the clipped, catchy beats of the duo's '80s pop apotheosis. The only disappointment was Hall's reluctance to mix his spiraling, lassoing tenor with his loamy, nicely edgy baritone.

The band encored with ''Rich Girl,'' which suffered from Oates' copycat guitar; ''Kiss on My List,'' which benefited from Catania's piercing and ripping, and a smiling version of ''Hot Fun in the Summertime'' that rolled like a Beach Boys ball and ended up gloriously messy. Sly Stone's love-a-thon would have been happier if the cutting contest between DeChant and Catania had lasted longer -- oh, say, into the fall.

geoff.gehman@mcall.com
610-820-6516
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