by Alex Lloyd Gross
Sept 20, 2022
The legendary band The Yardbirds, of which past members include Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck will be playing a show this Thursday evening, September 22, at the City Winery, In Philadelphia. They have founding member Jim McCarty, who is the drummer . He is excited to play the show. He has been with the band since their inception.
“I don’t think so”, McCarty said when asked if his band every played the City Winery before. He is in for a treat. It’s a small, intimate venue with excellent views. “We are going to play all the hits and there are some great blues covers, songs such as “For Your Love”, “Over Under Sideways Down,” and “Train kept A Rollin’, ” he said. The show will last about an hour and a half,
As for merch “I’m not sure if we are going to do a signing or not, in addition to T shirts,they will also selling copies of McCarty’s books. It’s full of stories, like the time they were playing with the Beatles and he was using Ringo’s kit. He hit it so hard, he broke it. The shows featuring the Yardbirds and the Beatles only happened in Europe. His books are called “She Walks In Beauty” and “Nobody Told Me.”
McCarty recalls concerts in the1960’s. They would last less than one hour and that would be it. Ticket prices were $4.00 for expensive seats. A lot has changed. Still ticket prices for the Yardbirds are reasonable and do not sell for triple figures. As previously said, this is the first time they are playing in Philly proper, at this venue. “We are filling in for some dates that were canceled”, he said.
Even through this band is legendary, for many people, it is their first time seeing them live. The average age of people coming to their shows is “across the board, we’ve got baby boomers . Many people bring their entire family and you can get a bunch of younger kids as well,” he said. You can check out The Yard Birds here.