London-born keyboardist, singer, and songwriter Nathan Mercado, who performs as Spider Cherry, has been a fixture in Delray Beach’s music scene from nearly the moment he arrived in the city, on a vacation to visit family in Boca Raton, back in 2012. Channeling stadium-ready alt-rock hooks and a glam-rock theatricality, Spider Cherry was an immediate hit at late, great venues such as Kevro’s Art Bar and Third and Third, and he continues to gig regularly at venues such as Johnnie Brown’s, The Bungalow, and Tim Finnegans.
But if you peruse his summer touring schedule, you’ll notice an unusual break from the South Florida dates that have made him “Delray Beach’s piano man,” per a 2018 profile in the Atlantic Current. That’s because Mercado recently accepted the opportunity of a lifetime for any hardscrabble local musician: the offer to tour with a supergroup of rock legends across the U.S. and U.K.
Starting June 13 in St. Louis, MO., Spider Cherry will be joining Sammy Hagar on 14 dates, playing keyboards on songs dating from the Red Rocker’s solo career as well as his 14 years with Van Halen. Also playing in Hagar’s “Best of All Worlds” band? Fifteen-time Grammy-nominated guitarist Joe Satriani, longtime Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, and Kenny Aronoff, regular drummer from John Mellencamp and John Fogerty.
For Mercado, the opportunity arose thanks to this year’s Beatles on the Beach festival. Greg Bissonette, a drummer in Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band and a man of many musical connections, sat in for a few songs of Spider Cherry’s set at Biergarten. Impressed with Mercado’s talent and musical elasticity, Bissonette phoned Beatles on the Beach founder Daniel Hartwell days later, asking if Spider Cherry might be available to tour with some “friends of his” in need of a keyboardist.
From the St. Louis date a week from Saturday, the tour continues through Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Maryland through the end of June. On July 6, the tour restarts for five shows in England, including three nights at the newly opened British Airways ARC, a state-of-the-art 3,800-seater in London.
Look forward to future coverage of Spider Cherry right here. For tickets to any of these gigs, visit redrocker.com.
For more of Boca magazine’s arts and entertainment coverage, click here.
