The Doobie Brothers' Tom Johnston expects to have “a lot of fun” at band's historic full-album performances in NYC

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Courtesy of The Doobie Brothers

Courtesy of The Doobie BrothersThe Doobie Brothers are set to play a pair of historic concerts this Thursday and Friday at New York City’s famed Beacon Theatre. The classic-rock greats will perform their full second and third albums, 1972’s Toulouse Street and 1973’s The Captain and Me, at the shows, marking the first time the band has ever played any of its albums in its entirety live.

“I’m looking forward to it,” founding singer/guitarist Tom Johnston tells ABC Radio of the concerts. “I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

While the two records feature such Doobie Brothers hits and concert staples as “Listen to the Music,” “Jesus Is Just Alright,” “Rockin’ Down the Highway,” “China Grove” and “Long Train Runnin’,” Johnston notes that “some of these songs we’ve never played live, in the history of the band.”

He continues, “[W]e had to basically learn these as though they were somebody else’s tunes…even though we’d written them…And it’s interesting what you find out about all these tunes that you haven’t played before.”

Tom points out that he and his band mates have spent lots of time rehearsing for the concerts and he’s feeling confident that they’ll deliver a solid performance.

“We’ve got [the songs] pretty much where we want ’em,” he says. “They’re sounding very close to where they started. And then we’ve also embellished on a few, and lengthened them a little bit.”

Johnston reports that the band will include “a neat addition” at the concerts, a horn section that will be featured on six of the songs.

For fans who can’t make it to the shows, Tom reveals that both events will be filmed and recorded for upcoming video and album releases, although he doesn’t know when they will be available.

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