Puckett promises a night of rock ‘n’ roll nostalgia

By Helen MUSA

WHEN Gary Puckett and the Union Gap take the stage at the Southern Cross Club on February 15, audiences can expect a night of serious rock ‘n’ roll nostalgia, for unlike a lot of admittedly well-performed tribute shows we see yearround, this is the real deal.

Of course, today’s line-up of Puckett, Woody Lingle, Jamie Hilboldt and Mike Candito is not the one Puckett formed in San Diego in the late ‘60s, but it is the one he’s been touring with for a few years and, at age 80, lead singer Puckett is still very much there.

Apart from a short time in the ‘70s when he went solo, he’s been a band performer all of his life, with an unmistakable, ringing voice that gave us hits such as “Young Girl” and “This Girl is a Woman Now”.

The band is also still wearing the signature Yankee soldiers’ uniforms from the American Civil War, in which they became famous. The name “Union Gap” is a real place in Puckett’s native Washington state, a nod to the northern Unionists in the war.

When I ask him how on earth that went down with southern audiences, he roars with laughter.

“I wanted us to dress differently from other bands,” he says.