Grand Funk Railroad returned to the road earlier this month for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020.
Founding Grand Funk drummer/singer Don Brewer tells ABC Audio that he feels “awesome” about getting to play concerts again, noting that as the health crisis got worse, he’d feared that normal touring might never come back.
“And when it finally started turning around and things started opening up and the vaccines came in, it was like, ‘Man, maybe we can do this again,” he notes. “And now it’s like this is a blessing…that we’re able to get back out and do it.”
The 72-year-old rocker says he’s excited “hear the crowd again and look at the faces and to see the smiles and to see people enjoying what we do.”
The band currently has about 20 confirmed upcoming dates on its 2021 trek, which is called the the Some Kind of Wonderful Tour, named after Grand Funk Railroad‘s hit 1974 cover of the 1967 Soul Brothers Six tune “Some Kind of Wonderful.”
Brewer tells ABC Audio that Grand Funk’s 2021 set list is similar to the one they played prior to the pandemic, although they’re adding a couple of old tunes back into the show, 1969’s “Heartbreaker” and 1970’s “Mean Mistreater,” the latter of which Don says the band hasn’t played since 1998.
The current Grand Funk lineup, which also features founding bassist Mel Schacher, has now been together for 22 years.
“We’re brothers,” says Brewer. “Not only Mel, but everybody. And we lucked out to put this group of guys together, because I don’t think I’ve ever been in a band where you get along with everybody…And we do.”
Check out the band’s full tour schedule at GrandFunkRailroad.com.
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