Tag Archives: Summer of Love

The Original 5th Dimension made a memorable appearance during 1967’s “Summer of Love” at the now historic Fantasy Fair & Magic Mountain Music Festival in Marin Country, California…and 50 years later, Florence LaRue & The 5th Dimension brought their eternal sunshine to the Marin County Fair! Group member Patrice Morris described the exhilarating experience as “our best concert ever!”  And super-fan, our good friend Andy Gard shares with us his heartfelt review as an exclusive for FOREVER 5th DIMENSION…

BIRTHDAY “FUNSHINE” WITH FLORENCE LaRUE & THE 5th DIMENSION by Andy Gard

Marin County Fair, Sat. July 1st–Leading to my 56th birthday on July 3, I can honestly say this was one of the best days of my entire life! As usual, The 5th Dimension played a huge part in that. I’ll also add that this show was unequivocally the best concert I’ve seen by the current lineup of the group. Everyone (Florence, Patrice, Leonard, Floyd and Willie) was in top form from the get-go and every single song was given 110%. Even better was the fact that the group is doing more “5th material,” including “Workin’ On A Groovy Thing” and “California Soul” which I heard them perform for the first time that night, after the “Rain Medley” and before “One Less Bell To Answer.” The “electricity” exchanged between performers and audience made the evening into a real love fest.

L to R: Willie, Florence, Leonard, Patrice and Floyd (courtesy John Estes)

The show began and it was immediately clear the group’s energy was turned all the way up. After “September” and “My Girl” came “Groovy Thing” which led into a selection of the group’s biggest songs performed in full, including “Wedding Bell Blues” “The Worst That Could Happen” “Never My Love” “Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All” and “MacArthur Park.” “Stoned Soul Picnic” followed and as usual, Florence ventured into the crowd to invite people to dance with her. The first person she picked happened to be a guy named Andy and after his turn Florence announced, “Speaking of Andys, I have a friend in the audience named Andy and it’s his birthday. Where are you, Andy?” I made my presence known and went down front to Ms. LaRue, who asked if I’d been practicing my dance moves. I said I’d done my best and evidently it was pretty good judging from the feedback I received!

Andy dances with delightful diva Florence (courtesy Patrice Morris)

The rest of the show was fantastic and the crowd was so hyped up they were standing and dancing from the very beginning of “Aquarius” even before the transition into “Let The Sunshine In!” The group came back for an encore and at the very end led the audience in an accapella version of “God Bless America,” the perfect conclusion to a 4th of July weekend concert…as was the fire works display. Then, spending quality time with Florence backstage for a lovely post-concert visit was the “icing” on my birthday cake!

Check out more upcoming concerts…Florence LaRue & The 5th Dimension continue their “Champagne Soul” magic:  https://www.pollstar.com/artist/the-5th-dimension-53228

(Forever 5th Dimension by Robert-Allan Arno, copyright 2008-2017, The Soul of the Voice, Ltd., intellectual property, all rights reserved)