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The Doobie Brothers will have to wait a bit longer before becoming the first San Jose act to be enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
That’s because the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony — originally scheduled for early May — was postponed, like pretty much everything else, due to concerns over the coronavirus.
But it’s now been rescheduled to take place Nov. 7 at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.
The show will be broadcast live on HBO beginning at 8 p.m. EST.
Besides the Doobies, the 2020 Rock Hall class also includes Depeche Mode, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G. and T-Rex. Also, the Ahmet Ertegun Award recipients are Irving Azoff and Jon Landau.
The six inductees come from an overall batch of 16 nominees, which were announced in October. Those who didn’t make the cut, at least this time around, include Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, Judas Priest, Kraftwerk, MC5, Motörhead, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Todd Rundgren, Soundgarden and Thin Lizzy.
Four of the six inductees — the Doobies, T-Rex, Houston and Biggie — were first-time nominees.
Tickets for the original date will be honored at the new date. Those looking for refunds can do so through their Ticketmaster account.
For more information about the ceremony, visit rockhall.com.
Proudly representing the beautiful @CityofSanJose since 1970, @TheDoobieBros announce 50th anniversary tour at @ShorelineAmp @LiveNationSF. And Michael McDonald is joining the party. https://t.co/xm507ohp3A
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) November 19, 2019
The induction will be a big day for the City of San Jose, as its most famous band its due. Other Hall of Fame musicians who have lived in or been associated with the city, including Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac fame. But the Doobies are San Jose at their core, in the same way that Jefferson Airplane belongs to San Francisco and the Doors to Los Angeles. The band actually got its start in a house on 12th street in downtown San Jose, just blocks from where members attended San Jose State University.
“San Jose, for me, was just a really neat place to be,” Johnston said in an interview with this publication last year. “I loved living there. It was a cool time. You could have a room for $40 a month. I didn’t have a lot, but I didn’t care. I was having a ball. At the time, I was pursuing music, all day, everyday. There were always people at the house playing. I would come home from school and find guys down in the basement blasting away.”
The band is also celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2020, with a major tour, which includes shows on Sept. 10 at Toyota Amphitheatre at Wheatland and Sept. 12 at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View. And, for the first time in nearly 25 years, the lineup for the tour will include Johnston, John McFee, Pat Simmons and Michael McDonald.
During the interview, Johnston said he never could have predicted during the band’s formative years that the Doobies would still be going, let alone basking in the limelight of Rock Hall immortality a half century later. And the band shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
“We still love playing,” Johnston said. “We still love interacting with the crowds.”
