Last Saturday, Shippensburg experienced an elongated flashback to the 1970s. Legendary rock band Three Dog Night put on an unforgettable show at the Luhrs Performing Arts Center, inviting a large audience to come along.

To describe the band’s sound would fill an encyclopedia, but, to put it simply, it is classic rock. Three Dog Night’s sound ranges from pop rock, to country, to art rock, to progressive rock and many others. But throughout all the variations, there is the consistent element of precision. Three Dog Night is tight. Although songs may not be the most complex of compositions, what makes its sound large is accuracy.

The chief example is when bassist Paul Kingery sang the famous single “One.” Originally written by solo musician Harry Nilsson in 1968, Three Dog Night covered the song in 1969. Although Chuck Negron provided the vocals on the studio track, Kingery sang it Saturday night. It is safe to assume that one could close one’s eyes and be convinced that the radio was playing.

Kingery matched the screams, wails and falsettos while singers Danny Hutton and Michael Allsup stuck to their beats. A standing ovation was given to Three Dog Night for at least half a minute.

The band weaved in staple hits like “Old Fashioned Love Song,” “Celebrate,” “Out in the Country” and “Easy to be Hard.” Although Three Dog Night kept things fairly simple, there were times when things went bananas.

The song “Liar” was easily the most intense song played. Featuring solos from keyboardist Eddie Reasoner with guitarist Allsup feeding off that allowed Allsup to lay down a face-melting solo that garnered applause.

“Liar” distinguished itself from the rest of the night and highlighted a key feature of rock ‘n’ roll: Instant grooving. It is the type of music that, were it playing on a jukebox as you walk into a bar, there would not be one iota of a complaint.

The greatest thing Three Dog Night proved on Saturday is that rock music is timeless. No matter the current preferred style of millennials, Three Dog Night and countless other bands that wrote and performed music back in their prime will still be considered great years and decades from now. It takes a special band to sustain the beauty of what hits like “Old Fashioned Love Song” and “One” accomplished.

However, the members of Three Dog Night experienced several hardships in 2015. Founding member and vocalist Cory Wells was battling cancer. After the death of keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon earlier in 2015, Wells expressed the inevitable concerns of the fans.

In an effort to not disappoint audiences, he encouraged the band to continue touring, and, in November, they continued to tour across the U.S. They will finish in May of this year.

Three Dog Night finished the phenomenal night with a cover of Kurt Bestor and Sam Cardon’s acapella “Prayer of the Children.” Originally written in 1993, Bestor was inspired to write the song after a two-year mission trip to Yugoslavia.

Three Dog Night covered the song in 2009. It was the first song they recorded in 26 years and released it as a single with another new track, “Heart of Blues.”

“Prayer of the Children” was moving, heartfelt and provided insight into the band’s long and illustrious career.

The final song of the night was “Joy to the World,” perhaps the most popular song in Three Dog Night’s catalogue. The audience stood up and sang along and the band gave a proper send-off to a fantastic show.

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