Indianapolis has long been more than just another stop on tour for Oates. He said he has a lot of friends in the city, whom he prefers to hang out with rather than hole up in his hotel room when he comes to town.
Fifty years ago this September, Daryl Hall and John Oates released their debut studio album “Whole Oats,” a collection of 11 soulful, soft-rock songs.
Oates is a self-described “car guy,” so he has been to the Indianapolis 500 several times. He said he was in the crowd when A. J. Foyt won his historic fourth race in 1977, the same year Hall and Oates received their first Billboard No. 1 with “Rich Girl.”He’s returning to Indy for All IN, a two-day festival in which Hall and Oates are top-billed on Saturday’s lineup among other acts like Death Cab for Cutie, Cage the Elephant and Portugal. The Man.
The veteran rocker also noted how festivals enable him, as an artist, to watch other performers. He said he likes every kind of music, from pop and Americana to blues and roots. These songs still work their ways into Hall and Oates’ setlists. In the few shows they performed in 2021, they opened each with “Maneater,” which turns 40 this year.