Daydreaming...

ERIE (AP) - A few years ago, a homecoming like this couldn't possibly have been imagined for a rock star in Erie. Remember Pat Monahan? Even more, remember the pop flop for Jakes Blues?

Last night, an estimated 20,000 people stuffed into the small quarters of State Street and Perry Square waited for up to four hours for an opportunity to smash the idea that an Erie native could come home successful.

Around 8 pm, hometown hero Tony Kellogg took the stage with his wildly popular band, Edsel's Comeback, amid huge cheers from the CelebrateErie audience. He stepped to the mic and, in his traditional fashion, thanked Foreigner for coming back to Erie and opening up for the Comeback. And after a short joke about the flight back into Tom Ridge Field, the show began with his first hit, "Put Your Hands On Me".

The crowd went crazy as Kellogg picked out the chunky blues riff, perfectly augmented by his ever-present band. Jeff "Scooter" Cooke on the drums, Del Kitessen on bass (who keeps Kellogg in check with his double neck bass solos), Eric Laughery on the electric banjo, and his girlfriend Amanda Pritchard on rythym guitar. Eric's banjo solo during the coda during the opener was virtuous enough to warrant a huge cheer from the crowd.

The band worked tirelessly through classic Comeback songs such as the acoustic "Building A Spider Web", the funky blues of "Green Pastures", and the punk-blues of "Stick Shift".

During an extended break in "As Long As Time Allows", Kellogg told the audience how much of a thrill it was playing to the Erie faithful who had long become a muse for the bluesy folk-rock that Edsel's Comeback had come to make popular throughout America, and gave his girlfriend (who was the "female" of the song) a big kiss on stage. She was able to keep rythym during the song, despite tears streaming down her face.

Mayor Joe Sinnott was invited on stage to sing, but due to the song "Empty Barstool" that was written about Sinnott's ever-present image of being a barfly in office, he chose to decline. So Kellogg invited his tour-mate, John Mayer, on stage for a version of Mayer's "Who Did You Think I Was?" that went on for almost fifteen minutes.

Even after Kellogg left the stage at 10:30, a two and a half hour free concert for his hometown, the crowd lingered, begging for a third encore, and refused to leave. A half hour later, with the Comeback getting ready for an autograph session at Starbucks, Kellogg returned to the stage alone and acoustic to play one last medley of "Blues Ryder", "Life By The Drop", and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out", a tribute to the three artists that heavily influenced him (Jakes Blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Eric Clapton, respectively). He thanked the crowd one last time, nearly breaking down into tears.

"I really didn't think I could handle it, even being here in Erie. I thought they'd boo me off the stage for all the negativity I'd written about this town," Kellogg said later. "But boy, were we surprised. Even Scooter was surprised we got that big of a reception. I guess being from the big city [Cooke was born and raised in LA], he doesn't understand that sort of hometown love."

Edsel's Comeback is in Toronto tonight for their concert at the Rogers Center, with Oasis opening for them.