“Kind of a Drag” was No. 1 on the Billboard chart in February 1967 and became a gold record for the Buckinghams, followed by top 10 hits “Don’t You Care,” “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” “Hey Baby, They’re Playing Our Song” and “Susan.” 1967’s “Lawdy Miss Claudy” reached No. 12.
The Buckinghams, including original band members Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna, will be in Las Cruces Thursday, June 8, performing those classics and more than a dozen other songs, accompanied by a 35-piece orchestra led by former Las Cruces symphony conductor Lonnie Klein.
Gates open at 6:30 p.m. The show begins at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $35 and are available at thebuckinghams.com and amadorlive.com.
“Everybody knows the songs,” said Klein, who retired in 2021 after 21 years as director of the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra.
“I love performing,” Giammarese told the Bulletin from his Chicago home. “I am so grateful that we have such great audiences that still come out to shows. The big thing is the memories it brings to people. There’s nothing more fun than concerts where you go out afterwards and sign autographs and everybody’s got a story: ‘You know, when you guys recorded this song, I had just met my girlfriend,’ or ‘she just broke up with me.’ To know you were a part of the fabric of their lives; it’s a great feeling. That’s what our concerts are all about. We do our hits. We do a lot of pop songs from that era.”
Giammarese said The Buckinghams concerts also attract a lot of younger people “that can appreciate your music, music buffs or know about it from their parents or grandparents. I think we can relate to them. We’re a five-piece rock band with horns. The kids today can appreciate it,” he said.
“We were known for creating the pop rock horn sound – a trombone-driven horn sound,” Giammarese said. “That sound pretty much continued with the group Chicago. We were friends with those guys when they were a house band in Chicago (called) The Big Thing.”
Giammarese said his favorite Buckinghams song is “Don’t You Care.”
“That’s great with an orchestra,” he said.
“It’s exceptional to have the opportunity to play with a full orchestra like this,” he said.
Klein worked with arranger/promoter Mariano Longo of Las Vegas, Nevada to bring The Buckinghams to Las Cruces. He met with Longo earlier this year while attending a Wayne Newton concert in Las Vegas. Longo will be a part of The Amador performance, as he runs the sound board for the show. Longo was also part of the show when Serpentine Fire performed the music of Earth, Wind and Fire with Klein conducting the orchestra that backed them up at The Amador last year.
The Amador show brings back the music of the ’60s as it was originally recorded, with full symphonic backing, Longo said.
“An orchestra was very much a part of the records,” Longo said. “We’re very glad to be able to recreate that as it was intended for the performances.”
“It's all about having a good time; bringing back memories,” Giammarese said.
