Regent Theater Archives - Last Dance Productions

Barry Goudreau’s Engine Room to Play Benefit for A Healing Garden

Announcing a new show on October 1, 2022! The Engine Room will be headlining at The Regent Theatre (7 Medford St, Arlington, MA). Proceeds will benefit The Healing Gardens, an organization building healing gardens at hospital treatment centers throughout North America. Also on the bill The Gravel Project and Sara Jean Kelly.

Tickets Click Here.

As a former member of the multi-platinum selling band Boston, Barry played on their first two albums, Boston, and Don’t Look Back. When released, Boston, was the fastest selling debut album of all time. Both albums landed on the top of the, Billboard POP Charts, with Boston, reaching #3 and Don’t Look Back, reaching #1. Barry’s musical career continued after BOSTON, going on to form Orion the Hunter, RTZ, and releasing two records with Brad Delp.

Goudreau recently announced the release of his new CD, “The Road,” from his band Barry Goudreau’s Engine Room. Barry’s blues/rock ensemble includes his former RTZ bandmates Brian Maes on lead vocals and keyboards and Tim Archibald on bass. Both Maes and Archibald were members of Peter Wolf’s House Party Five, playing on two of his records and touring the world extensively. Also in the band is “Old” Tony DePietro on drums and Mary Beth Maes, Terri O’Soro, and Joanie Cicatelli on background vocals. Expect some favorites like “Smokin” and “Long Time” in their live set, alongside songs from the new CD as well as tracks from “Full Steam Ahead,” the 2017 release from Barry Goudreau’s Engine Room.

Patio Records is dedicated to the mission of building healing gardens at hospital treatment centers. Here are the projects we’ve been involved with to date.

What a great show for a great cause.

Tickets Click Here.

For more concerts by Last Dance Productions, click here.

See you at a show soon.

Live Music Is Better!

August 10, 2022/by Last Dance Productions

Concerts, Events, News

A Tribute to Todd Rundgren

A Tribute to Todd Rundgren, Gary Backstrom’s Road to Utopia, comes to the Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington, MA on Friday, June 7, at 8 pm. Tickets here.

Todd Rundgren

Considered by many to be the “Ultimate Rock Cult Hero” Todd Rundgren has maintained a legion of fans through four decades. Todd’s searing guitar work reached a nationwide audience in his role as lead guitarist for the blues-psychedelic band Nazz. He wrote and arranged almost all of the work that went into the three albums the group produced.

His first big solo success was in 1971 with “We Gotta Get You a Woman” and in 1973 from the double album “Something/Anything?” He scored big on the charts with “I Saw the Light” and a revision of a Nazz song, “Hello, It’s Me.”

Rundgren has scored huge as a music producer, most notably on Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” opus. In the late 1970s and through the 1980s Todd formed the group Utopia, each member an accomplished musician and vocalist. He has also been called on by films and TV for his musical scores and sometimes tours with Ringo Starr as a member of his All-Star Band.

Gary Backstrom

Gary Backstrom

Gary is the founder and frontman of the acclaimed Jam Band “Jiggle The Handle.” The Gary Backstrom Band is a Boston-based Band that mixes Soul, R&B, Funk, Rock and Latin grooves blended into a unique sound. Their sound features exciting, unpredictable improvisation that can only be heard in the best live acts on the scene today. Gary is considered “one of the most underrated, fluid, and melodic players in the Northeast.”

Some of the proceeds from this concert will go to

The Alzheimer’s Music Project

The project brings personalized iPods to people living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, helping them reconnect with the world through the music they love.

This will be a quite the night for a great cause.

Tickets Here.

March 1, 2019/by Last Dance Productions

Concerts, Events, News

THE Folk Singer-Songwriter Event of the Year

A Celebration of our friend: Dick Pleasants

This will be THE folk singer/songwriter event of the year. Tickets Here

Lori McKenna, Patty Larkin, Cliff Eberhardt, Garnet Rogers and Mark Erelli

Saturday, April 7, The Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA Info Here

This is a Celebration of our friend Dick Pleasants… Getting together to say, “Thanks!”

For over forty years, Dick Pleasants was a mainstay on Boston radio, as well as part of the Boston and New England music community.

Proceeds from this concert will go to “The Richard E. Pleasants Supplemental Needs Trust.”

Lori McKenna

Lori McKenna puts a magnifying glass on un-championed lives. She doesn’t just notice the quiet and ordinary, she delights in it – effortlessly transforming the average to extraordinary. Lori is one of the most sought after songwriters in the industry with her songs recorded by top artists including Reba, Alison Krauss, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. McKenna’s songwriting credits include the 2x Platinum Billboard No. 1 hit, I Want Crazy, by Hunter Hayes. She penned the 2015 massive Little Big Town hit, Girl Crush, which reached 11 weeks on the Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and netted McKenna a CMA Award, NSAI Songwriters and her first Grammy. She wrote Tim McGraw’s hit, Humble & Kind. The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart marking the first time in more than four years a song written by one writer topped the chart.

Cliff Eberhardt knew by age seven that he was going to be a singer and songwriter. Growing up in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, he and his brothers sang together and their parents played instruments. His dad introduced him to the guitar and he quickly taught himself to play. Fortunate enough to live close to the Main Point (one of the best folk clubs on the East Coast), he cut his teeth listening to the likes of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt, and Mississippi John Hurt — receiving an early and impressive tutorial in acoustic music. At the same time, he was also listening to great pop songwriters like Cole Porter, the Gershwins, and Rodgers and Hart, which explain his penchant for great melodies and clever lyrical twists.

Garnet Rogers has established himself as “One of the major talents of our time”. Hailed by the Boston Globe as a “charismatic performer and singer”, Garnet is a man with a powerful physical presence – close to six and a half feet tall – with a voice to match. With his “smooth, dark baritone” (Washington Post) his incredible range, and thoughtful, dramatic phrasing, Garnet is widely considered by fans and critics alike to be one of the finest singers anywhere.

Mark Erelli has won several prestigious awards, including the Kerrville New Folk Contest and the International Song Contest, where a song he co-wrote with Catie Curtis (“People Look Around”) bested 15,000 entries to win the grand prize. He has maintained a rigorous touring schedule, appearing onstage everywhere from coffeehouses and major folk festival stages (Newport, Philadelphia) to Fenway Park, where he once sang the national anthem before a Red Sox game. In recent years, Mark has gained notoriety as a multi-instrumentalist sideman and producer, accompanying GRAMMY-winning artists such as Lori McKenna, Paula Cole and Josh Ritter everywhere from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry to London’s Royal Albert Hall.

More information and tickets here.

Presented by:

Barnes Newberry of My Back Pages Radio & Brian Quinn of Last Dance Productions

March 20, 2018/by Last Dance Productions

Concerts, Events, News

Badfinger’s “Straight Up” with Joey Molland

A rare opportunity to see this show “live” with Joey Molland

Tickets click here

Friday, November 3, 2017, 8 pm, Arlington, MA

It’s the 45th Anniversary of the Greatest Album by Badfinger, 1972’s Straight Up, and the band’s legendary guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Joey Molland—along with his dynamic band—brings the album to the stage in a bracing live show.

Featuring 5 tracks written by Joey, Q Magazine described Straight Up as ”…brimming with mature melodies and bracing verse/chorus interplay…”, while NME deemed it ”…a stone cold beauty of an album…” and advised, “Love it like your mother …”

George Harrison produced four tracks on the album, Name of the Game, Suitcase,I’d Die Babe, the latter two written by Molland, and Pete Ham’s Day After Day, which gave the group a Top 5 U.S. Single. AllMusic says, ”…there’s absolutely no filler and everybody is in top form…” The album, which also featured Baby Blue, stayed on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart for 32 weeks.

From their legendary lineup, Joey Molland continues the unforgettable legacy of BADFINGER. One of the original signings to the Beatles’ Apple Records label, they had their first hit single with a Paul McCartney penned song, Come and Get It, which went to #7 in the U.S. charts. Badfinger followed this with their own compositions No Matter What, Day After Day (produced by George Harrison), and Baby Blue, which went to #8, #4 and #14 respectively.

During this time American singer Harry Nilsson placed Badfinger’s song Without You on top of the charts, and Mariah Carey did the same in 1994. VH1 produced a Behind The Music documentary about the band, whose songs continue to heard in films (The Departed, etc), on television (Breaking Bad finale et al), and of course on Classic Rock and oldies radio; Harry Nilsson’s version of Without You was featured in the 2016 film starring Tina Fey, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Joey Molland and Badfinger played on John Lennon’s Imagine album and joined George Harrison for the Concert for Bangladesh.

Badfinger’s classic lineup of Tom Evans, Pete Ham, Mike Gibbins, and Joey Molland came together in 1969, as the group changed it’s name from The Iveys. Signed by the Beatles to their newly formed Apple Records label, they scored an Instant Top 10 U.S. smash with the Paul McCartney penned theme song Come and Get It from the film the Magic Christian. They followed this with their own compositions No Matter What, Day After Day (produced by George Harrison), and Baby Blue, which went to #8, #4 and #14 respectively.

Badfinger’s Baby Blue has enjoyed extensive and enduring appeal through its use in television and film. It was featured in Martin Scorcese’s film, The Departed, the highly popular TV drama, The O.C., but its most spectacular resurgence came when it was featured in the closing scene of the finale of AMC’s classic series, Breaking Bad in September 2013. In the first full week following the finale of the show, the group’s Baby Blue equaled its 1972 Hot 100 success, by roaring back onto the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart at No. 14, thanks to hefty sales and streaming gains. It also blasted onto the Rock Digital Songs chart at No. 8 with 37,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Joey Molland released a new record, titled Return to Memphis, in 2014. Badfinger music continues to be used in television and film, the most recent example being the inclusion of Without You in the film, Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot in 2016.

October 11, 2017/by Last Dance Productions

Concerts, Events, News

Music With A Heart

Experience some fantastic music while helping to support two very worthwhile organizations.

The Last Waltz Live!
A Special Benefit Concert for “Mended Little Hearts of Boston”

Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St. Arlington, MA

Friday, September 30th at 8:00pm

Information and tickets: click here

The Last Waltz Live!

The Last Waltz LIVE is a re-creation of The Band’s classic concert film featuring The Rev Tor Band as The Band (accompanied by a full horn section) and one dozen or more local, regional, and national artists as special guests.
Not a tribute show, but rather a powerful community event, each Last Waltz Live concert features a local lineup of guest artists making it a unique, all-star experience.

More info here

The Last Waltz Live will be a benefit concert
for “Mended Little Hearts of Boston”
Did you know that about 1 in 110 babies are born with a congenital heart defect each year?

Mended Little Hearts, a nonprofit organization, works nationally and in communities to empower children with congenital heart defects and their families through support, education and awareness.

More on Mended Little Hearts of Boston Here

Our second Music with a Heart Concert is:

The Healing Garden Music Fest
The 20th Anniversary Concert!
Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St. Arlington, MA

Saturday, October 15th at 7:30pm

Information and Tickets: Click Here

Sponsored by Patio Records this benefit concert is geared towards raising funds to build healing gardens at hospital treatment centers.
Musicians include: Garnet Rogers, Barbara Kessler,
Rick Fines and Suzie Vinnick.
Plus an All-Star band that features Dave Mattacks on drums, Richard Gates on bass, Matt Leavenworth on fiddle, and Scott Neubert on guitars

More info here

This is a very special concert to help build a Healing Garden at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. Patio Records is home to great music, a community of talented and caring artists, and Healing Garden Music Fests – all dedicated to the creation of natural healing environments for people undergoing the rigors of cancer treatments.

More on Patio Records and the Healing Gardens: Click Here

“Live Music Is Better”

August 23, 2016/by Last Dance Productions

Posts