DIANA ROSS
A CONCERT REVIEW BY LEE ARBOREEN & ROBB BRAWN
We're going off topic from Grey Gardens for once, and will actually be adding a new section to the WWW.MYGREYGARDENS web site shortly.
Last Friday night, May 21st, we saw the one and only Diana Ross in concert at Caesars in Atlantic City. She is now more than half way through her "More Today Than Yesterday" tour. The remainder of her tour dates can be found at WWW.DIANAROSS.COM, which is actually her Facebook page.
The reviews so far, including those of her sold performance at Radio City Music Hall on May 19th, have been glowing, but one really has to experience this show first hand !. She was UNREAL !! What we had not seen in any reviews were any real comments on the dramatic opening of the show. A huge video screen was placed high above the 18 piece band. The show starts off with REALLY loud pre recorded music, which the band gradually blends into. Lights are flashing, and there is a rapid fire video slide show of pictures of Diana throughout the years as well as album covers. Then, one by one, three words appear... ARE... YOU.... READY !... A radiant Diana emerges from beneath the floor, dressed in a form fitting black and silver Mackey original, covered by an electric lime green boa, something only Diana Ross could pull off without looking like she'd just stepped out of Sesame Street ! She opened the show with the her 1979 hit, "The Boss", which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #19 and landed the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart. The tune was long absent from her show until recent years. She followed with More Today Than Yesterday, originally recored by Spiral Staircase in 1969, and the only upbeat tune on Diana's most recent album "I Love You".
She started her trip down memory lane with Reflections. The vieeo screen above flashed picture after picture as well as clips of the Supremes.
During the first few bars of You Can't Hurry Love, a group of late arrivers attempting to seat themselves in one of the front rows, remained standing right in the middle of the row, blocking everyone's view behind them. This was so disruptive that Miss Ross herself became distracted enough by this rather inconsiderate behavior that she put her hands up and started in .... "hey... hey...hey".. then turned to the band "stop.. stop.... stop ... stop ! " Stop the music ! ". The band went silent and as for the rest of the venue... you could hear a pin drop...Miss Ross preceded to repremand the group " C'mon.. look... You shouldn't do this ! Even in theaters in New York you just don't walk down and stand up in front of everybody ! ".... Oh my God ... Imagine being scolded by Diana Ross !.. Ouch !! The audience however appeared to agree with her, giving her a round of thunderous applause. She turned to the band and said "ok.... let's go"..
What made this show so super hot was the addition of live horns and strings. In recent years Miss Ross has traveled with an extremely small band with very few live instruments. The musicians in this show weren't down in a pit, or placed at a distance far behind Miss Ross. Many times, the horn section and she were side by side. The musicians played an integral part in the excitement level of the show. The band, in her own words was "hot!". Arrangements of all the songs were totally souped up.. Diana consistently interacted with the band. She seemed to have genuine affection and appreciation for her band, but moreover, a deep affection for her fans.
Her vocals were clear and strong. We'd have to give her an 8 out of 10 on her vocals. Granted, she had 3 super backup singers but pitch and strength were spot on almost all of the time, and we've heard her in concert when her voice just wasn't cooperating with her. Perhaps the smoothest and most beautiful vocal performance was on "Missing You"... Close to perfect.
Song wise, in addition to the usual Supreme standards, full versions, not a medley, there were her disco era hits , Upside Down, Mirror Mirror, I'm Coming Out, and Love Hangover, and the ballads, Endless Love and Touch Me in The Morning. She threw in VERY short versions of Take Me Higher and Ease On Down The Road the latter being from her film The Wiz. A tour first, was the performance of the song, "It's Hard For Me To Say", from her 1987 Album "Red Hot Rhythm And Blues". The tune was produced by Luther Vandross. During the song, the huge screen flashed pictures of her former Motown family including Marvin Gaye, Tammy Terrill, The Four Tops, The Temptations, and Stevie Wonder, just to name a few. She did a few songs from her film "Lady SIngs The Blues", including "Don't Explain, which she ALWAYS nails. The only other full song she did from the I Love You Album, was a cover of the Burt Bacharach hit, The Look Of Love. The song opened with a single sax player, positioned high atop the stage with images of neon signs behind him displaying the words "cool", and "jazz". The sax did a very cool solo, and Diana came out singing on the main level of the stage. She and the sax player joined up center stage to work off of each other completing an extremely cool version of this tune.
Her closing number was Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive. Not that Miss Ross doesn't make it exciting, but she's been closing her shows with this song for quite some time now and we would much rather have seen her finish with the number she did at a huge concert last fall in Amsterdam, Brand New Day, again from the Wiz.
Her "encore", if you can call it that, as it was obviously well planned out, was a tribute to Michael Jackson. She dedicated the song and the tour to him. She also mentioned that we had just also recently lost Lena Horne. It was a beautifully moving tribute with pictures of her and Michael on the screen above. She sang her hit, Missing You (originally dedicated to Marvin Gaye), followed by Michael's hit, You Are Not Alone. She walked back up a set of stairs to her original entry spot above the band, sang a few lines of the title track "I Love you", and the stage lights dimmed to dark.
Love her to death, and we really do, but it is doubtful that Lady Gaga will be able to sell out a venue such as Radio City Music Hall in the year 2055, which would be the same time frame between The Supreme's first hit Where Did Our Love Go in 1964 and now...who knows.. we hope she will.
We'd like to wish Miss Ross continued success with her tour and thank her for the many hours of music and memories she's given us over the years, and thankfully is still giving us today...
