A million years ago a pretty young blond Canadian girl named Joni Mitchell sang: “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
The simple, often forgotten life lesson from her song “Big Yellow Taxi,” of course, bubbled to the surfaced with Michael Jackson’s death, but it also lurked in the wings at Saturday’s No Doubt performance and Friday’s Aerosmith show, both at Jones Beach.
Each of these treasured American bands, gone so long we didn’t know if either was ever coming back, played a powerhouse gig this weekend.
No Doubt, which unraveled five years ago when singer Gwen Stefani struck out to test her skills as a solo artist, was as together at this seaside show as when the group was at its top.
You almost felt their relief that their self-imposed hiatus was over. The 100-minute set was extremely energetic with ab-perfect Stefani pouncing and bouncing through each song.
Everyone — even the guitar tech — dressed in white with black accents and an occasional bowler hat. Sure, many No Doubt songs have a cinematic quality, but dressed this way the group really projected a sinister “A Clockwork Orange” vibe. The menace stood in contrast to the percolating pop that included hip-hop, ska and reggae joints.
Because there is no new album, the show had a welcomed “best of” set list with tunes like “Spiderwebs,” “It’s My Life,” and a crowd singalong of “Just a Girl.” During that one, mischievous Stefani requested all the men in the audience help her sing the chorus hook: “I’m just a girl in the world.” Gwen, not for nothing, but it was a very creepy moment hearing the biker dude behind me wailing that line.
All in all, it was a splendid, upbeat show, that said the band and fans were happy to be back together.
* Aerosmith, who’ve been MIA from concert stages for the past few years because of 61-year-old singer Steven Tyler’s health problems, not only looked great shimmy shimmy shaking through the show, but the band’s sound was right on.
The show sandwiched between two covers . . . the Yardbirds’ “Train Kept A-Rollin’ ” was the opener, and The Beatles “Come Together” closed the concert. Between the covers, Aerosmith was a lean mean hit machine at Jones, with the best moments of the night coming when the Boston band reprised their now- classic record “Toys in the Attic” in its entirety.
The music from that album — which features classics like “Walk This Way” and “Big Ten Inch Record” — was at its most tasty for “Sweet Emotion,” with the Toxic Twin magic of Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry at full power.
But at this show it was opening act ZZ Top who seemed to possess real honest to goodness magic. When the long-bearded band introduced Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady,” the instant Billy Gibbons said the word “Jimi,” the entire sky lit with lighting as if Gibbons flipped a switch. It happened, and was over in the time it took to utter the guitar god’s name — still it’ll stand as one of the great moments in concert rock.