Jefferson Starship
Aug. 21, 2025
The Kent Stage, Kent, Ohio

By Rob McCune


If ever there was a band worthy of an “Eras Tour,” Jefferson Starship is one. This starship traverses not only space but also time, with its influences spanning 60 years of evolution all the way back to 1965 when Jefferson was just an Airplane.


The craft and its crew have changed dramatically throughout the eras of its existence. But the starship that touched down at The Kent Stage in Kent, Ohio, on its 50th trip around the sun, still is captained by a legend: 87-year-old David Freiberg, who joined the mission shortly after it embarked.


Freiberg, who had a birthday days after this performance, was there when Grace Slick’s galactic voice and stage presence tamed the galaxy. And this old rocker still has “it,” now that Cathy Richardson is belting out the hits, which she has been doing since 2008 as the lead singer for Jefferson Starship.


Richardson, whose own music career took off in 1990 and includes filling in for Janis Joplin, is more than filling in for Slick, who has blessed this latest iteration of Jefferson Starship. With her own astronomical voice and command of the stage, she has made this era her own. But she also deftly navigates the rich and complicated history of the band, which spun off from Jefferson Airplane and then spun off into Starship.


On stage, she speaks sincerely about the honor of performing songs made sensational by Slick and with Freiberg, as well as drummer Donnie Baldwin, who joined Jefferson Starship in 1982, left to join Starship in 1984 and rejoined Jefferson Starship in 2007.


The current lineup also includes keyboardist Chris Smith, who has toured with the likes of the Supremes and Lou Bega, and lead guitarist Jude Gold, the youngest of the group, who performed a solo during this set that seemed to defy all logic, at times emulating a violin with his electric axe while sawing at the strings with his hand.


Richardson trumpeted and flattered her bandmates at every opportunity, including briefly telling the story of how Frieberg, after being deported from Mexico, discovered Janis Joplin singing Irish ballads on an autoharp at a folk festival at the University of Texas and convinced her to go to San Francisco.


The music itself told stories during the 90-minute set, featuring songs from each era: Airplane to Starship. That included medleys dedicated to Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Balin and a Starship medley highlighted by a powerful duet of “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” a song that has starred in multiple movie soundtracks since it was released in 1987.


Other songs that electrified the crowd included the iconic psychedelic “Alice in Wonderland” Imaginarium “White Rabbit,” the hard-rocking “Jane,” and the earnest “Somebody to Love.”


During an encore that transitioned from a heart-felt prayer for peace in “God Bless America” to the anti-war anthem “Volunteers,” the fans rushed to the front of the stage, no doubt de-aged and transported to an earlier era, when if not more sensible times at least seemed simpler.


Rob McCune is Every_Thing_After_Photo on Instagram, where he shares his concert photography and reviews, as well as clips from his “Every.Thing.After” podcast, with interviews with musicians and bands.

And take a look at a review of the Jefferson Starship from Reno

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