Greg Kihn - vocals, guitar; Gary Phillips - keyboards; Greg Douglass - guitar, vocals; Steve Wright - bass; Larry Lynch - drums
After releasing a record a year from '76 to '82, Greg Kihn found his biggest hit LP with 1983's Kihnspiracy, which contained the hit "Jeopardy", as well as popular numbers "Talkin' To Myself" and "Tear That City Down." This show, recorded at his local hang-out, Wolfgang's in San Francisco, positions Kihn as one of the best live acts touring the US at that time. The comparisons to Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band were numerous, but Kihn was really a rockstar all on his own merit.
Opening with the road classic "Route 66," Kihn leads his band through a spirited set that also includes: "Tear That City Down," "Talkin' To Myself," "Cheri Baby" (which could easily have been a Chris Issak song a decade later), and, of course, his #2 hit single, "Jeopardy."
Although this set is short, he commands the audience and puts on his always entertaining show, which this time was void of classic rock cover material.
He pulls out a few surprises, including the first time ever recording of "Work, Work, Work," which finally appears on Kihn's next studio album, Kihntagious. Whether he is doing a 40-minute set in a small dance hall or commanding a large audience for a full two hour show, Kihn never loses his perspective and his command of his enthusiastic fans.
Kihn, an aspiring singer-songwriter who had migrated from his native Baltimore, Maryland, to San Francisco in 1974, had worked on and off as a record shop clerk while developing his own musical chops.
Shortly after landing in the Bay Area, Kihn became one of the first artists signed to Matthew Kaufman's fledgling indie label, Beserkley Records. Beserkley had made a splash with such Bay Area artists as Jonathon Richman & the Modern Lovers and Earthquake. But it was Kihn, with his keen sense of radio-friendly melodies, who went on to be Beserkley's bestselling artist. After a slot on a popular Beserkley compilation, Kihn formed the first version of the Greg Kihn Band with Robbie Dunbar on guitar and backing vocals, Steve Wright on bass, and Larry Lynch on drums.
Kihn stayed with Beserkley for several years, and the success of his later hit singles, "The Break Up Song" and "Jeopardy," secured a major-label distribution deal for the cutting-edge record company from the late 1970's onward. By 1985, Kihn's popularity began to wane and he started working with smaller labels, such as Clean Cuts out of his native Baltimore.
He became a morning DJ in 1994, and kept touring sporadically through the 1990s. He launched a third career as a successful novelist and author in 1996. His first book, Horror Show, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award.