Hall & Oates still in touch and in time at Gexa

Several times during the Hall and Oates/Trombone Shorty/Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings triple bill Friday night at Gexa Energy Pavilion, a musician seemed transported, as if the song had taken him or her over, and they’d surrendered control to it and let it speak through their singing or playing.

For Daryl Hall, this happened a few times, almost always near the end of a song, as he, John Oates and their band stretched out a number of their hits. But it was perhaps most noticeable during Sara Smile.

On the record’s fade, Hall does some vamping and ad-libbing that helps set the ballad apart; live, as the song lengthened, he threw in more of those touches, occasionally breaking into a near-helpless grin (as he did often throughout the night). Hall has been singing some of these songs for 40-odd years, and yet he clearly still gets a kick out of them and the audience’s response to them (there was so much singing along with some songs that the audience practically became backing vocalists themselves).

John Oates, Hall’s longtime musical partner, has said in interviews that he’s OK with Hall taking the spotlight because Hall has the more outgoing personality. But Oates got his moments, too, most notably on their cover of You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling and She’s Gone, as well as a few mini-duels that paired him with longtime H&O sax player Charles “Mr. Casual” DeChant or lead guitarist/music director Shane Theriot. Oates is underrated both as singer and guitarist, but the quieter part of the duo makes his presence known onstage.

When a band has 29 Top 40 hits, even a hits-laden show is going to leave some people wanting more, and Hall and Oates put the emphasis on quality rather than quantity, digging deep once (the early-career Las Vegas Turnaround was a nice surprise) and going long often.

The soulful ballad Do What You Want, Be What You Are barely scraped the Top 40 back in 1976, but on Friday, it was another showcase for Hall (with a big assist from Oates), who did more of that song-ending vamping and then seamlessly segued it into a huge hit, I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do), in a version that probably went on for more than 10 minutes and included a lengthy sax solo from DeChant — another musician who seemed transported. The quickie pop songs — Rich Girl, You Make My Dreams Come True, Kiss on My List, Private Eyes — were largely saved for the encores, and their crowd-pleasing mojo worked.

Hall & Oates was preceded by Trombone Shorty and his band Orleans Avenue. Shorty has been a popular act at smaller venues such as the Fort Worth Symphony’s Concerts in the Garden, and sometimes a shed like Gexas swallows up acts like this. ut Shorty owned it with his gumbo of jazz, rock, funk and R&B, with a booming sound and a commanding, charismatic presence.

His transported moment came not on his signature instrument but on the trumpet, where he did a solo that went on for what seemed like several minutes — at any rate, longer than you’d think he could do it without passing out. It got the crowd’s attention, not easy when a lot of them were still taking their seats, and brought a lot of them to their feet. Shorty is already a headliner at smaller venues; judging from Friday night, he could start taking on places like Gexa on his own, with someone else being the support act.

The show was opened by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, a 10-piece group (counting background singers) led by the energetic Jones, who was transported but also transcended a setback. Jones appeared to be having problems with her vocal monitor that might have made a lesser act give up, but she pressed on through vigorously, covering Gladys Knight’s early Every Beat of My Heart and doing a Tina Turner-style take on Get Up and Get Out, a song she said was inspired by her battle with cancer. Even with the sound problems and the early start (Jones and her band went on at 7 p.m., while the sun was still shining and people were still milling about), Jones put on a powerhouse set.

A minor disappointment about Hall & Oates’ set: Given Hall’s frequent collaborations with other artists on his Live at Daryl’s House series, it’s too bad that the headliners didn’t bring out Shorty or Jones for a song or two (especially Jones, who has appeared on Daryl’s House and dueted with Hall on a dynamite version of Do What You Want, Be What You Are). But that’s a quibble. A show in which the musicians seem transported can be pretty transporting itself.

This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 2:04 AM with the headline "Hall & Oates still in touch and in time at Gexa."