Diana Ross tonight

tonyb

At the Chicago Theatre....I'll be there. Not my cup of tea per say but she's still one of the greats you have to see once in your life. Motown I dig....and she's certainly among the finest female voices ever. Main floor seats too, about 5 rows back from the Orchestra pit. Should be fun.

Any other Motown kids in here ? Great times....a trip down memory lane for sure.

cfrizz

Cool, I'm looking forward to your report Tony! Hopefully she still has a good set of chords.

Oldfatdogs

Hey Tony,enjoy the show the legends of Motown are going quick.Great seats too.

Dan

boston1450

Hope its a good show. Enjoy yourself

Oldfatdogs

Well how was the show?Can the girl still hit the notes?
Hope you had a good time.

Dan

tonyb

For those who never happened to grace the Chicago Theatre, it really is a great venue, smaller, unique, beautiful place. Not a bad seat in the house really. Can the Queen of Motown still sing ?

You betcha....sounded fantastic. Though her show has no glitz and glamor of the younger artists, she simply belts it out like days gone by. 5 dudes with horns on the left, 3 backup singers on the right, 2 drummers and a piano in the rear along with a few guitars. She sang for roughly 1.5 hours, not the longest but hey, she's 70 years old. Tell ya what guys, she sounded great...as good if not better than artists half her age. Enjoyed the show and she donates a good portion to up and coming artists. She can still hold those high notes, granted not as long though. Crowd was great, the usual mix you'd expect and everyone was pleasant and courteous. Song selection hit the gamut, but with one glaring omission...Reflections. How could she not sing that one ?

Before the show stopped a few blocks down on State st. to a place called Sable. Good food you don't see everyday and a belly of drinks you won't find many places either. All in all, an enjoyable evening...expensive one, enjoyable none the less.

NJPOLKER

Thanks for sharing. Not my cup of tea. I don't drink tea anyway, but if I had the opportunity I would like to see her and other classic's in a wonderful setting like the Chicago Theatre.
How did she look? I bet she sounded better!

amb426amb1

Just some of the perks of living in a large metro environment...glad you had a great evening out. Grew up listening to Motown on the radio but never purchased any. Had a friend who had fantasies of Diana...posters on the bed room walls and all of that.

Oldfatdogs

Hey Tony, glad you had a good time.I like the smaller venues the sound is much better than the arenas.I would like to see her too,not gonna be around forever.When a person can truly sing they don't need glitz and glamor. I guess when you have been at it as long as her you have to leave out a couple of the old favorites.Good food,drinks and music,sounds like a good night to me.

Dan

scottyboy76

Motown rhymes with magic for me, and deb, the supremes were one of her faves.

Glad diana is still great

cfrizz

Exactly Dan. And hopefully she didn't decide to do a little bit of a lot of songs just to say she sang them. Anne Murray used to do that it drove me crazy. Either do 3 hr concerts like the Eagles or just pick a good chunk of your best songs and sing them all the way through.

Glad you had a great time Tony.

tonyb

Motown, like it or not, deserves it's rightful place in musical history. When you think about it, Motown was about love, peace, relationships, at a time when we were upside down. With lyrics you could understand too, and not have to get out your Captain Crunch decoder ring to figure out what the heck the song is about....like todays music. If you can't move your feet, tap your toes to Motown, you'd better check your heartbeat.

She gets a thumbs up from me, 70 years old....who still sings like that ? No brainer guys. One of the few greats in female vocals that they broke the mold after. Add Whitney Houston to that mold breaking female artists list too.

drumminman

Glad you enjoyed the show Tony. I love Motown and grew up with it. The singers and especially the songwriters and musicians were magical. If you want to know more about the latter check out "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown", a documentary that came out around 5-10 years ago. It's all about the Funk Brothers, the band that played on all those hits. At the time it was made a lot of them were still alive. We've lost a few since.

The stories they tell give you a great idea of what it was like to make all that music. Most of those guys were Jazz cats playing around the Detroit area, and were recruited by Berry Gordy. Many of those songs were recorded live in that little house called Hitsville USA, the headquarters of Motown. Not a lot of overdubbing, so everyone had to be on their game when doing a take.

The Funk Brothers knew they were good. Richard "Pistol" Allen one of their drummers said something to the effect of, " our singers were good, but you could have had a chicken squawk on 2 and 4 and we still would have made a hit out of those songs."

tonyb

Oh yeah, I've seen that. Motown has history...an interesting history. Also interesting how music reflects whats going on in society at the time. Still wonder how Motown....music of peace/love/relationships evolved into gangster rap. Today both have managed to keep their separate identity, but Motown fizzled in the end and rap came to the top. Can't figure that one out. Also to be an artist/singer in Motown, you had to have the chops, some talent. Rap requires none of that...imho. Let me re-phrase that. Early rap was the best. Groups like Run-DMC...brilliant...with good messages.

Like I said, the crowd was pretty evenly split between white and black, old and young, a testament to the broad appeal of Motown. Even though I'm not a country music fan, I see todays Country music as the new version of Motown. Lots of good artist with some class and talent and music you just can't help but tap your toes to. I like the direction Country music has taken, and their appeal is also wide enough to bring many into the fold.