daviddesper
02-06-2015, 01:32 AM
I told you folks I would try to give at least an amateurish review of tonight's show in Charlottesville, so I will now attempt just that. As I had mentioned before in my advance posts, this was at a rather small theater that I was told seats about 1,000. [[I asked an usher.)
The show did completely sell out and if the crowd reaction was any indication, I think she could sell the place out for another dozen shows if she had the time. Also I am not sure if it is typical for the audience to stand more than they sit at a Diana show, but this group was up and down constantly and dancing in every available square inch of the place.
I had never seen Diana so I was not sure what my expectations were, but I would say she exceeded them on every level. First of all, she looked sensational. As someone had mentioned, there were four costume changes and she looked dazzling in them all and moved energetically across the stage during every song.
Vocally I found her to be in great form. Yes, the band can overwhelm a singer in a concert setting and yes it is easy to overlook the value of the supporting singers, but you could tell tonight that she's still got it. In fact there were several places where her solo parts were quite strong.
From one person's post, I gathered that the material doesn't change much from show to show. So we started out with My World is Empty Without You and moved through half a dozen other Supremes hits.
Next she focused on some of her own monster hits [[The Boss, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, to name a few.) She touched on Billie Holliday as if there would be a larger segment devoted to it, but instead she sang only Don't Explain.
Throughout the show, she acknowledged the audience frequently, either with comments about how good we were or through gestures that fit within the context of the songs. I realize every artist is supposed to make the audience feel good about themselves, but she really did seem sincere about it. A few lucky folks up front got to shake hands toward the end of the show, which closed by the way with regular and encore versions of I Will Survive, which I presume that her other shows do as well.
She introduced everyone in the band at one point or another during the show and they were indeed amazing. She has an incredible horn section for one thing and her percussionist has to be one of the hardest working men in show business! At one point while she was changing clothes, her background singers [[I believe they are called "The Voices") took over on Ease On Down the Road, and got the crowd REALLY riled up.
If I had to find a criticism with the show, and it is a small one, it is that I was hoping that she would interact with the audience on a more personal, or local, level. For example, she never once said "Hello Virginia!" or "What a beautiful theater you have here" or anything of that nature that would make the audience feel as if she was really happy to be specifically there, as opposed to it being just another stop on the tour.
As I said, she did graciously acknowledge the audience at various times during the show, but other artists that I have seen in this particular venue did take time to personalize it to some degree and talk about their [[actual true) ties to the area. So maybe in Diana's case, she just couldn't think of anything to say. So like I said, a small criticism, but she never really talked to us, other than just a sentence or two here and there that was part of a song, or led directly into one.
Am I making any sense with that? Sometimes you want to hear a singer just "talk" to you at least a little bit instead of singing to you for the entire show.
But all in all a wonderful show and probably the biggest name this theater has ever booked. I have seen Dionne there, Bettye Lavette and Booker T sharing a show, Broadway stars Linda Eder and Michael Feinstein together, and comedians Lily Tomlin and Vickie Lawrence on separate nights. Johnny Mathis was slated to appear one night a few years ago but the show got canceled and to my knowledge was never re-scheduled.
But no one ever as big as Miss Ross, and I am glad I was able to see her! If you ever have the chance yourselves anywhere at all, by all means take it!
The show did completely sell out and if the crowd reaction was any indication, I think she could sell the place out for another dozen shows if she had the time. Also I am not sure if it is typical for the audience to stand more than they sit at a Diana show, but this group was up and down constantly and dancing in every available square inch of the place.
I had never seen Diana so I was not sure what my expectations were, but I would say she exceeded them on every level. First of all, she looked sensational. As someone had mentioned, there were four costume changes and she looked dazzling in them all and moved energetically across the stage during every song.
Vocally I found her to be in great form. Yes, the band can overwhelm a singer in a concert setting and yes it is easy to overlook the value of the supporting singers, but you could tell tonight that she's still got it. In fact there were several places where her solo parts were quite strong.
From one person's post, I gathered that the material doesn't change much from show to show. So we started out with My World is Empty Without You and moved through half a dozen other Supremes hits.
Next she focused on some of her own monster hits [[The Boss, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, to name a few.) She touched on Billie Holliday as if there would be a larger segment devoted to it, but instead she sang only Don't Explain.
Throughout the show, she acknowledged the audience frequently, either with comments about how good we were or through gestures that fit within the context of the songs. I realize every artist is supposed to make the audience feel good about themselves, but she really did seem sincere about it. A few lucky folks up front got to shake hands toward the end of the show, which closed by the way with regular and encore versions of I Will Survive, which I presume that her other shows do as well.
She introduced everyone in the band at one point or another during the show and they were indeed amazing. She has an incredible horn section for one thing and her percussionist has to be one of the hardest working men in show business! At one point while she was changing clothes, her background singers [[I believe they are called "The Voices") took over on Ease On Down the Road, and got the crowd REALLY riled up.
If I had to find a criticism with the show, and it is a small one, it is that I was hoping that she would interact with the audience on a more personal, or local, level. For example, she never once said "Hello Virginia!" or "What a beautiful theater you have here" or anything of that nature that would make the audience feel as if she was really happy to be specifically there, as opposed to it being just another stop on the tour.
As I said, she did graciously acknowledge the audience at various times during the show, but other artists that I have seen in this particular venue did take time to personalize it to some degree and talk about their [[actual true) ties to the area. So maybe in Diana's case, she just couldn't think of anything to say. So like I said, a small criticism, but she never really talked to us, other than just a sentence or two here and there that was part of a song, or led directly into one.
Am I making any sense with that? Sometimes you want to hear a singer just "talk" to you at least a little bit instead of singing to you for the entire show.
But all in all a wonderful show and probably the biggest name this theater has ever booked. I have seen Dionne there, Bettye Lavette and Booker T sharing a show, Broadway stars Linda Eder and Michael Feinstein together, and comedians Lily Tomlin and Vickie Lawrence on separate nights. Johnny Mathis was slated to appear one night a few years ago but the show got canceled and to my knowledge was never re-scheduled.
But no one ever as big as Miss Ross, and I am glad I was able to see her! If you ever have the chance yourselves anywhere at all, by all means take it!