Local band, IMAGE returns to St John’s Theatre with “Christmas on the River” concert

Published 12:32 pm Tuesday, December 3, 2024

The local band IMAGE is set to reawaken nostalgic memories on Dec. 7 as they stage a Christmas concert performance at St. John the Baptist Theatre in Reserve. 

The theme of the concert titled “Christmas on the River” is a homecoming of sorts, as the four members of the band who all hail from Reserve will put up live performances for a night out reliving decades past.

The band members, Richard Oubre, Ron Keller, Jeff Luminais and Kevin Aucoin will honor the era they grew up in, using the concert to offer a multimedia experience to their audience.

“We will be performing many contemporary Christmas songs, and we will present  a synchronized light show and video to the music we are playing”, Jeff, the band member said. 

He explained that pictures and videos will accentuate the live performance of music from the 60s and 70s, invoking an emotional reunion for those who experienced the era of political, social, technical and musical change as teenagers or young adults.

Initially known as The Outer Limits, a name the band had adopted after the 1963 television series, the band evolved with different names over time, until they eventually settled for IMAGE.  The band had started in Keller’s house in their early adolescence in the late 1960s, while they honed their musical talent, their reach also increased.

The highlight of the decade came when they were invited to perform on the nationally televised rock-n-roll variety show “Happening ‘68.The late 60s and early 70s marked a transformative period in the world and in their lives, and they are still playing together, after 50 years. 

The band started breaking up in the mid 1970s as core members finished school and moved away. IMAGE remained defunct for more than 30 years, until Oubre’s father passed away in 2008. Plans to get the band back together commenced in 2009, and IMAGE performed its reunion show to a sold out audience of more than 600 people at San Francisco Plantation in 2011.

Today, all of the band members still maintain ties with their home base in Reserve.