35th Anniversary of Central Park

[jobeterob]

https://www.google.ca/amp/amp.essence.com/celebrity/diana-ross-35th-anniversary-central-park-show

[daviddesper]

Ironically around here [[Virginia) the weather is not much different than it was that night!!

[PeaceNHarmony]

And so the re-run anniversary is tonight! I was there for both shows, even though I was negative 3 years old at the time :eek: A wonderful time it was.

[daviddh]

Not my fav concert of hers. Did she sing one song completely thru. I remember her saying spreadn love......
I did think Ribbon In The Sky was a highlight

[Roberta75]

An iconic concert for sure.

[vgalindo]

Not my fav concert of hers. Did she sing one song completely thru. I remember her saying spreadn love......
I did think Ribbon In The Sky was a highlight
You are correct it did have too many sing alongs. But it also had her best live performances of "Endless Love" and "Mirror Mirror" they were stellar IMO. I can watch these two performances over and over. Also loved "Family", "Ribbon in the sky" and "All for one".

[JohnnyB]

You are correct it did have too many sing alongs. But it also had her best live performances of "Endless Love" and "Mirror Mirror" they were stellar IMO. I can watch these two performances over and over. Also loved "Family", "Ribbon in the sky" and "All for one".

Diana’s performances of Let’s Go Up and Mirror, Mirror are my favorites from the show...

[Ollie9]

Central Park has to be my least favourite Diana concert. Way to much ego on display for me. IMO Diana never seems to engage with the songs she is singing, spending far to much of her time on stage posing and preening. Her voice sounds quite strained and on certain songs she seems to be almost shouting rather then singing.
The only highlights for me is her touching rendition of "God Bless The Child" and a nice version of "Endless Love".

[midnightman]

"It took me a lifetime to get here, I'm not going nowhere!"

Well when it's raining, Ollie, your focus is not gonna be on singing lmao

Her July 22 "clean-up" show was the complete opposite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMu8u7En6dw

[sup_fan]

i haven't watched these 2 shows in a while but overall my memory is that, from a singing stand point, these are not peak Diana Ross. IMO her very best was the HBO taping of her tour supporting The Boss. vocally she sounds amazing. there's little to no raspy-ness which starting showing in the 80s. she sounds like a vocal powerhouse on My Man too. My only criticism of this show was her entire Supremes career was shoe-horned into Baby Love. there should have been something more than just that.

[khansperac]

She sang many songs in their entirety. She sang the most celebratory version of i’m coming out, ever. She sounded wonderful on home, family, let’s go up, reach out and touch, mirror mirror, ribbon in the sky, and endless love. She absolutely rocked Mirror mirror, why do fools fall in love and it’s my house. The highlight for me was a mirror mirror. I do agree however that it seems at times that she was almost shouting, but I believe that was because she wanted to make sure her voice reached out to the almost 1,000,000 people in attendance , so she overdid it a little at times. She was out there to entertain, and that is exactly what she did. She had the crowd in the palm of her hands .

[vgalindo]

i haven't watched these 2 shows in a while but overall my memory is that, from a singing stand point, these are not peak Diana Ross. IMO her very best was the HBO taping of her tour supporting The Boss. vocally she sounds amazing. there's little to no raspy-ness which starting showing in the 80s. she sounds like a vocal powerhouse on My Man too. My only criticism of this show was her entire Supremes career was shoe-horned into Baby Love. there should have been something more than just that.
She did do a complete Supremes medley that night at Caesers Palace. It was edited out along with "Getting Ready for Love"

[PeaceNHarmony]

She sang many songs in their entirety. She sang the most celebratory version of i’m coming out, ever. She sounded wonderful on home, family, let’s go up, reach out and touch, mirror mirror, ribbon in the sky, and endless love. She absolutely rocked Mirror mirror, why do fools fall in love and it’s my house. The highlight for me was a mirror mirror. I do agree however that it seems at times that she was almost shouting, but I believe that was because she wanted to make sure her voice reached out to the almost 1,000,000 people in attendance , so she overdid it a little at times. She was out there to entertain, and that is exactly what she did. She had the crowd in the palm of her hands .
A big Thank You! You got it just right. As one of the 1,000,000 who were there that first night and again the second I can tell you first hand that the lady sang like an angel and gave the performance of a lifetime. Of course the magnitude of the crowd size and the event itself took a toll on 'perfection', but, really, nobody there at the time gave a shizz. It was a wonderful, glorious, gorgeous event that even these 35 years later makes opponents jealous and appreciators joyful.

[vgalindo]

A big Thank You! You got it just right. As one of the 1,000,000 who were there that first night and again the second I can tell you first hand that the lady sang like an angel and gave the performance of a lifetime. Of course the magnitude of the crowd size and the event itself took a toll on 'perfection', but, really, nobody there at the time gave a shizz. It was a wonderful, glorious, gorgeous event that even these 35 years later makes opponents jealous and appreciators joyful.
Thank you. I wasn't there but I watched both nights live on TV and loved every minute of it. It was truly an awesome amazing event!

[Ollie9]

Not so long ago i watched the dvd with friends who agreed Diana's voice sounded tired and a little strained at times. What inpressed everybody was her incredible showmanship.
For me, as far as singing is concerned her 79 and 81 concerts are head and shoulders above Central Park. It was the location, the rain and the volume of people that makes this concert special imo.
Had Central Park taken place in the summer of 81 or even 95, from a singing perspective i think it could and would have sounded a lot better.....Even if it had rained.

[Circa 1824]

35 years, wow, time went sooooo fast.

I did not go to the concert even tho I lived in NYC. At this stage of her career, I was not pleased with her work or presentation. Gordy's strong hand and direction were sorely missed. Yes, too much shrillness and shouting and too damn many sing-alongs.

[sup_fan]

She did do a complete Supremes medley that night at Caesers Palace. It was edited out along with "Getting Ready for Love"

wow! hadn't heard that. i knew Getting Ready was cut but hadn't ever heard that there as a Sup medley as well. although it's not surprising that she performed one. I'd never heard of her doing just 1 sup song as her lone gesture towards that portion of her career. thought it was odd

[reese]

wow! hadn't heard that. i knew Getting Ready was cut but hadn't ever heard that there as a Sup medley as well. although it's not surprising that she performed one. I'd never heard of her doing just 1 sup song as her lone gesture towards that portion of her career. thought it was odd

Not sure what happened at Caesars. But when she toured in 1980, the local review showed that the set list was basically the same as the HBO special and BABY LOVE seemed to be the only song performed from the Supremes era.

[khansperac]

not to further derail this thread, but on her 1979 tour, the Supreme songs she sang were: Baby Love, Stop in the name of Love, You can't hurry love, Reflections, My world is empty without you, I hear a symphony, Baby love reprise [[slow version).

[JohnnyB]

not to further derail this thread, but on her 1979 tour, the Supreme songs she sang were: Baby Love, Stop in the name of Love, You can't hurry love, Reflections, My world is empty without you, I hear a symphony, Baby love reprise [[slow version).

I wonder if she may have been testing the waters at this time in regards to presenting the Supremes years. When I saw this show she performed Baby Love and the Supremes medley from An Evening With... that is listed above. By 1981 she was doing a rock version medley of Baby Love, Stop! and Itching. That medley remained in the show until the mid-eighties. After that she typically only sang You Can’t Hurry Love until a new medley was created around the time of Workin’ Overtime...

[vgalindo]

This looks to be the same show as the HBO special and it contains "Getting ready for love" and the Supremes medley.

https://youtu.be/x9hj8FiDTyI

[reese]

This looks to be the same show as the HBO special and it contains "Getting ready for love" and the Supremes medley.

https://youtu.be/x9hj8FiDTyI

It was basically the same show that I saw in April of 1979. When THE BOSS was released, she took out the songs from ROSS and added a bunch from the new album. She was still doing the same show in 1980, even after "diana" was released.

[sup_fan]

It was basically the same show that I saw in April of 1979. When THE BOSS was released, she took out the songs from ROSS and added a bunch from the new album. She was still doing the same show in 1980, even after "diana" was released.

by 1980, i know she included I'm Coming out and upside down. Did she ever incorporate any other diana 1980 tracks in her live shows? her Boss tour not only included the lp singles but many of the album tracks. from what i've heard, that tour was the most supportive of a specific album.

in 70, she also included Something on my mind from her debut album. along with Mountain and Reach. other than the various lp singles, did she ever really include much of the album filler tracks? aside from the Boss tour?

[JohnnyB]

by 1980, i know she included I'm Coming out and upside down. Did she ever incorporate any other diana 1980 tracks in her live shows? her Boss tour not only included the lp singles but many of the album tracks. from what i've heard, that tour was the most supportive of a specific album.

in 70, she also included Something on my mind from her debut album. along with Mountain and Reach. other than the various lp singles, did she ever really include much of the album filler tracks? aside from the Boss tour?

To my knowledge, Diana only performed Upside Down and I’m Comin’ Out at the time of the “diana” LP release. She typically didn’t dig deep into various LP’s in the eighties, but she did add these songs to her shows during the time of their LP release:

Fool For Your Love
Let’s Go Up
Touch By Touch
Forever Young
More And More
Experience
Tell Me Again

Beginning with Workin’ Overtime, she began to heavily promote each LP on stage, performing as many as seven or eight tracks from each album during her shows.

[reese]

by 1980, i know she included I'm Coming out and upside down. Did she ever incorporate any other diana 1980 tracks in her live shows? her Boss tour not only included the lp singles but many of the album tracks. from what i've heard, that tour was the most supportive of a specific album.

in 70, she also included Something on my mind from her debut album. along with Mountain and Reach. other than the various lp singles, did she ever really include much of the album filler tracks? aside from the Boss tour?

I don't think she spent much time on album tracks until TOUR '79, which contained songs from BABY ITS ME and ROSS before the show was revamped after THE BOSS was released. Most tours after that one featured album tracks as well as hits.

From the one 1980 review I saw, like JohhnyB said, she added UPSIDE DOWN and I'M COMING OUT to the show but the tracks from THE BOSS remained.

[Albator]

To my knowledge, Diana only performed Upside Down and I’m Comin’ Out at the time of the “diana” LP release. She typically didn’t dig deep into various LP’s in the eighties, but she did add these songs to her shows during the time of their LP release:

Fool For Your Love
Let’s Go Up
Touch By Touch
Forever Young
More And More
Experience
Tell Me Again

Beginning with Workin’ Overtime, she began to heavily promote each LP on stage, performing as many as seven or eight tracks from each album during her shows.
The Swept Away Lp cuts were heavily promoted during her live act:
Telephone
touch by touch
rescue me
missing you
forever young
swept away

Some claims she sang Children of the world on a few occasions.
Least promoted LP? RHR&B, only Dirty Looks during her Red Hot tour. In 89, she did at least once "there goes my baby" in Paris and "Tell me again" in London.

[sup_fan]

she's usually done a pretty good job of always including her latest singles in the act. so with the Swept away tour, SA and MY were early singles. I heard she decided Telephone would be a good single based on audience reception during her shows. hard to believe since i find that one of the weakest tracks but oh well.

But guess this sort of supports my overall point. Boss, Ross 78, Swept seemed to be pretty well supported with the tours but diana 80, WDFFIL, Silk, Ross 83 not so much

[RanRan79]

in 70, she also included Something on my mind from her debut album. along with Mountain and Reach. other than the various lp singles, did she ever really include much of the album filler tracks? aside from the Boss tour?

She was doing "Call Me" in her show for a few years, I think. And of course she did "Close to You" on her TV special but I know if it was ever in her concerts, though it would seem like a logical inclusion.

[RanRan79]

In 89, she did at least once "there goes my baby" in Paris

Now this I want to hear. Is their video or audio of this that ever surfaced? The song is one of like two or three from the album that I really do like.

[RanRan79]

Diana's first Central Park show is Diana at her most captivating. I doubt if anyone even attended that show hoping to hear Diana tear it up. It wasn't that type of atmosphere. I would've gone just for the experience of Ross, and boy did the crowd get it that day. I haven't seen the second show in it's entirety, but what I did see mostly left me with a "meh" feeling and I chalk that up to her being unable to create the magic of the first show. She would've needed to perform in a tornado in order to top the previous show. And I might be biased, but I think she could've pulled it off.:cool:

[Albator]

The second show is one of the most bizarre concert I'v ever seen. A lackluster performance? yes and no. It started very well, but once she is on her prophet stuff, it's terrible. She lost her audience, she lost her show, she lost her orchestra and her songs.
She acts like there are only a few first row but what about the others who probably can't see much on the screens since the sun is strong.
Mirror Mirror is great, so is Ribbon.
Muscles, So close, bad, Work that body, Maniac, upside down are close to total disaster.:[[

[RanRan79]

The second show is one of the most bizarre concert I'v ever seen. A lackluster performance? yes and no. It started very well, but once she is on her prophet stuff, it's terrible. She lost her audience, she lost her show, she lost her orchestra and her songs.
She acts like there are only a few first row but what about the others who probably can't see much on the screens since the sun is strong.
Mirror Mirror is great, so is Ribbon.
Muscles, So close, bad, Work that body, Maniac, upside down are close to total disaster.:[[

I remember "So Close" being a bad idea. Didn't she almost fall or something? And I seem to recall "Muscles" going on and on and on. I remember being pleased with Maniac and thought it ended up being a crowd pleaser. If I'm not mistaken, I really dug her version of "Ribbon" from the show and I'm not a fan of that song at all.

[JohnnyB]

I remember "So Close" being a bad idea. Didn't she almost fall or something? And I seem to recall "Muscles" going on and on and on. I remember being pleased with Maniac and thought it ended up being a crowd pleaser. If I'm not mistaken, I really dug her version of "Ribbon" from the show and I'm not a fan of that song at all.

Including So Close was inevitable; it had been her most recent top 40 hit. Almost stepping off of the stage hurt the performance, but made it a memorable moment at the same time. I give her credit for recovering quickly and making light of it. Can u imagine if she had actually fallen...

[daviddh]

She did do a complete Supremes medley that night at Caesers Palace. It was edited out along with "Getting Ready for Love"
to bad they didn't include both on the cd release

[ralpht]

For those of you that missed this....Russ and I discussing that concert.

https://youtu.be/QlkrPMRBJS8

[Roberta75]

For those of you that missed this....Russ and I discussing that concert.

https://youtu.be/QlkrPMRBJS8

Great video Ralph. Thanks for sharing.

[lucky2012]

Thank you, Ralph. The things I learn and get to see from this forum!

[vgalindo]

Thank you Ralph. I enjoyed the video.

[Albator]

I think this is the best live sound system Diana has ever have. Before that, I don't feel we could heard the quality of her voice on various live Lps or tv shows.