Come Rain or Shine: Legendary Diana Ross Concert Debuts on DVD - Central Park

[jobeterob]

The Second DiscExpanded and Remastered Music News
Come Rain or Shine: Legendary Diana Ross Concert Debuts on DVD
with one comment

Time and taste have been kind to Diana Ross, recent recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. From the moment The Supremes broke into the national consciousness, it was clear there was something special about that pretty lead singer with the unmistakable voice.

And believe it or not, nothing can stop her – not even the elements, as a classic 1983 live event, bowing on DVD this spring from Shout! Factory, is quick to prove.

On July 21, 1983, Miss Ross – at the time, two years into a recording contract with RCA, after decades with Motown – came to New York City to perform a show in Central Park to raise money for a new playground. The show, recorded under the title Diana Ross: For One and For All for the Showtime cable network, was going to be like any other, featuring plenty of classic cuts from her years with The Supremes and as a solo artist on Motown alongside current hits like “Muscles” and “Mirror, Mirror.” But high winds and rain soon posed a major problem for Ross and the concertgoers. Diana became a stunning embodiment of “the show must go on” that night, refusing to vacate the stage until absolutely necessary and making good on a spontaneous promise to perform the next day. That sunny set was punctuated by covers of hits by Stevie Wonder [[“Ribbon in the Sky”) and “Muscles” writer Michael Jackson [[“Beat It”) in addition to performances of “Upside Down,” “Endless Love” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

The first official DVD edition of this concert – which will be commemorated on public television stations starting this month with encore broadcasts of the original Showtime special – features the complete footage from both concerts as well as a new commentary by Steve Binder, who directed the special as well as countless other legendary music programs for film and television [[The T.A.M.I. Show, Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special). Regardless of the weather outside, any fan of Ross will want to pick this disc up when it’s released on May 15. Hit the jump to check out both setlists and keep your eyes peeled for an order link when one’s available.


Diana Ross, Live in Central Park [[Shout! Factory, 2012)

Night 2: July 22, 1983

1.I’m Coming Out
2.Home
3.Family
4.It’s My House
5.Let’s Go Up
6.Reach Out and Touch [[Somebody’s Hand)
7.Supremes Medley: Reflections/Baby Love/Stop! In the Name of Love/Love is Like an Itching in My Heart
8.God Bless the Child
9.Mirror, Mirror
10.Maniac
11.You Can’t Hurry Love
12.Upside Down
13.So Close
14.Why Do Fools Fall in Love
15.Ribbon in the Sky
16.Beat It
17.Muscles
18.Endless Love
19.Theme from Mahogany [[Do You Know Where You’re Going To)
20.Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
21.All for One
Night 1: July 21, 1983 [[ended midway due to weather)

1.Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
2.Home
3.Family
4.It’s My House
5.Let’s Go Up
6.Reach Out and Touch [[Somebody’s Hand)
7.Supremes Medley: Baby Love/Stop! In the Name of Love/Love is Like an Itching in My Heart
8.Endless Love
9.Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

[milven]

Thanks for posting this. Just checked local listings and first broadcast here is next Sat 3/10 at 7 pm. Already set my DVR. This will be fun to see again.

[Roberta75]

Very exciting.

Thank you.

Roberta

[jobeterob]

I wonder how close she was to finishing the first show???

[reese]

I wonder how close she was to finishing the first show???

She had a long way to go. She didn't even get to her first costume change which judging by the second night, would have been quite a ways into the show.

[jobeterob]

Did she do the whole show the 2nd night and the weather was OK?

[reese]

Yes. The second night's concert lasted two hours, from 6-8pm est.

But looking at the set list listed above for the second night, the dvd doesn't contain the full show. There are some missing songs.

[RossHolloway]

I CANNOT wait for this dvd.

[skooldem1]

This is very exciting. I wonder with Diana celebrating 50 years in the business, if she is now ready to embrace her legacy and share things like this with her fans. What could be next? One concert I'd like to see in its entirety is her concert at the forum. Parts of it were used in her TV special. She should also look into releasing the HBO Ceasar's Palace show- with deleted songs, if there were any.

[LadySingsBlues]

I'm so excited for this!

[captainjames]

COOL BEANS !!
Can't Wait

[theboyfromxtown]

Ralph

Was Russ involved in this DVD concert release?

[Roberta75]

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/23/arts/concert-a-panoply-of-the-ross-career.html

[dba]

Set your dvr's! PBS Channel 13 - March 10 @ 7PM
Diana Ross: for One and for All
Though rain ended her Central Park concert on July 21, 1983, Diana Ross performed the next day.
Additional Airdates
Sun Mar 11th at 12am on Thirteen
Sat Mar 31st at 8pm on WLIW21
Sun Apr 1st at 2am on WLIW21

[Jimi LaLumia]

when do they start accepting orders for this?

[Roberta75]

when do they start accepting orders for this?

I should imagine the night they air the concert.

Roberta

[Sacramento John]

"It took me a lifetime to get here, and I'm not going anywhere."

On July 21, 1983, the legendary Diana Ross took the stage in New York’s Central Park before an audience of more than 800,000 adoring fans. Soon after the singer began, pouring rain and heavy wind threatened to put an end to the show, but Diana pushed on for much of the set, urging the drenched crowd to remain calm and stay with her. Eventually the torrential storm put an end to the performance, but not before Diana promised her fans she would return the next day. True to her word, Diana performed the entire concert again on July 22nd for the people of New York and, as planned, proceeds from the concert benefited the Diana Ross Playground, which was built three years later in Central Park.

Initially broadcast live around the world, DIANA ROSS: FOR ONE AND FOR ALL was never again shown on television, until now.

Airdates and times:



Station
Day
Date
Time


Idaho Public Television
Tuesday
3/13
9P


KVIE/Sacrameno
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Wednesday
Saturday
3/3
3/4
3/5
3/7
3/10
9P
9P
3P
4A
10P


KNME/Albuquerque
Thursday
Saturday
3/8
3/10
9P
4A


KLVX/Las Vegas
Friday
3/2
9P


Maryland Public Television
Friday
3/16
10P


WLIW/New York
Saturday
3/31
8P


WMVS/Milwaukee
Sunday
3/4
8:30P


WNED/Buffalo
Friday
3/16
3/17
9P


WNET/New York
Saturday
3/10
7P


WPBT/Miami
Tuesday
3/13
3/17
8P


WTVS/Detroit
Thursday
3/22
10P


WVIZ/PBS Cleveland
Saturday
Saturday
3/10
3/17
3:30A

[whitesoxx]

No "Pieces of Ice" :-[[

[captainjames]

With all the touring Diana is doing lately the new release of the Diana and Live in Central Park would be great markeing tools.

[nomis]

they should edit out "Maniac" and "Beat It" because they are just plain awful..but she nails "Home" ..

[skooldem1]

I like "Maniac". I like it when she lets loose at one point and starts jumping around. "Beat it" is not good.

[romeo]

Where is Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart ?

[nomis]

theres something about that secound day..from the moment she trips going up the stairs at the intro to the crowd just out of control by "endless love"..its like a knife point that could turn to disaster at any time..she wasnt as focused and in control as usual there are some magical moments but theres some real misfires as well [[what on earth is she wearing for Ribbon In the sky ??)shes having audio problems as well..she cant hear the band and someone dosent really turn up the volume when she asks for it..and that stage..it slopes like a skateboard ramp shes totterring around on it at some points like shes really balancing..thats what I mean about knife point..she hasnt got the crowds full attention when she brings that book on stage and shes almost telling the crowd off at the begining of "Family"..for all the kudos the rained out night got the secound day showed her strengths..but also flaws..

[ejluther]

"Where is Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart ? "

It's listed as the last song in the Supremes medley in the original post [[the medley is listed twice, in fact, once from each night).

[romeo]

As I remember Diana did a full version of Itching In My Heart. It was a highlight!

[franjoy56]

I think the DVD release will show new fans of Diana that she was a lightening rod when it came to performing. She braved the rains on the first night and stood on the stage
till the park cleared out, Hoping for no trouble with the fans, but on the second night inspite of her tripping running up the stairs and some technical sound misfires, she gave you a show. Kudos to the release of One for all all for one: The Central Park Concert 1983. I remember this concert and didn't go because of the huge crowds on both nights I gave away my taped copy years ago, but I did go to the Supremes Concert 13 years with Jean Terrell earlier in Central Park and that was a good show, but the crowds were awesome..Hope to see more Diana/Supremes DVD coming out soon.

[motownlover1964]

I bought a decent copy of both shows not long ago before the announcement was made about it being officially released and didn't feel the magic at all. I love Diana but felt the order of the songs was too disjointed to give it a really good groove. I realize I'm probably in the minority, especially on this board, but was really disappointed as I had high expectations after reading about this concert on and off for 30 years and was really let down.

[jobeterob]

Details of Roberta's post above:


CONCERT: A PANOPLY OF THE ROSS CAREER
By JOHN ROCKWELL
Published: July 23, 1983
Sign In to E-Mail

Print

For all her childlike delicacy and sometimes unnerving mid-performance spontaneity, Diana Ross has always been a practiced professional.

Thursday night at Central Park's Great Lawn, with the driving rain and the potential for panic, she needed all the professionalism at her command. Last night, even with a smaller crowd, the circumstances seemed ideal, and Miss Ross responded with a warm, smoothly crafted show.

In all but a few details, it matched exactly the tightly organized plan that had been plotted for Thursday's event - even more tightly plotted than a typical concert, since the show was televised and the set, wardrobe, lighting and camera people had to know what she was about to do at every moment.

The main differences came at the beginning. As has become increasingly common at large-scale outdoor events, the stage was visually amplified by two large television-like screens to project images of the concert to the outer reaches of the crowd.

Last night opened with a documentary montage of the previous night -Miss Ross singing and talking and asking the audience to leave, newspaper headlines of the wash-out and so forth.

Then Miss Ross made her entrance - the sequined jump suit was purple this time, not orange - cried out, ''It's a new day,'' and launched into ''I'm Coming Out,'' as opposed to Thursday's ''Ain't No Mountain High Enough.''

From then on, the set list proceeded as originally planned - a panoply of the Ross career, which has ranged from Motown and the Supremes to films like ''Mahogany'' and ''Lady Sings the Blues'' to contemporary solo vocal work under a variety of producers.

There was less-expected material, too, including ''We Are a Family'' from the musical ''Dreamgirls,'' which is a fictionalized account of the early Supremes, and Michael Jackson's current hit ''Beat It.''

The show was entitled ''For One and for All,'' reflecting a no doubt sincere communal love on Miss Ross's part, but also the sentimentality that afflicts all her shows.

Security considerations prevented her from walking out among the audience. But she did ask the audience to ''reach out and touch somebody''; she did read from Kahlil Gibran [[a tender moment punctuated by wind chimes but interrupted by a minor stampede in the crowd when an observer fell off a trash barrel), and she did say things like, ''I'd like to thank each and every one of you individually,'' toward the end.

In fact, the ''one'' in the title may well have meant Miss Ross herself. This was a solo performance with a vengeance - for nearly the entire two hours, she was alone on the large stage [[a couple of numbers involved a few dancers), with her fine pit band literally that - some 20 musicians huddled out of sight with the video cameras focused firmly on Miss Ross [[with occasional crowd shots).

But if these circumstances suggested an ego display, the charm of Miss Ross's voice and personality, not to speak of her terrific figure flaunted in a dazzling variety of Las Vegas-like costumes, prevailed.

As a singer, Miss Ross can belt out a ballad's climaxes and an uptempo dance number with a piercing authority and a lively rhythmic flair. But it is her kitten-confidential crooning that real,y sets her apart.

Concerts like this are ultimately more significant as statements of community than as musical events, perhaps. But it was to Miss Ross's considerable credit that she and her stage designers and technical crew managed to make made it a musical event of merit as well.

[jobeterob]

Thursday, March 8, 2012Diana Ross’s Central Park Concert Finally Coming Out On DVD!



On July 21, 1983, Miss Ross – at the time, two years into a recording contract with RCA, after decades with Motown – came to New York City to perform a show in Central Park to raise money for a new playground. The show, recorded under the title Diana Ross: For One and For All for the Showtime cable network, was going to be like any other, featuring plenty of classic cuts from her years with The Supremes and as a solo artist on Motown alongside current hits like “Muscles” and “Mirror, Mirror.” But high winds and rain soon posed a major problem for Ross and the concertgoers. Diana became a stunning embodiment of “the show must go on” that night, refusing to vacate the stage until absolutely necessary and making good on a spontaneous promise to perform the next day. That sunny set was punctuated by covers of hits by Stevie Wonder [[“Ribbon in the Sky”) and “Muscles” writer Michael Jackson [[“Beat It”) in addition to performances of “Upside Down,” “Endless Love” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

The first official DVD edition of this concert – which will be commemorated on public television stations starting this month with encore broadcasts of the original Showtime special – features the complete footage from both concerts as well as a new commentary by Steve Binder, who directed the special. Regardless of the weather outside, any fan of Ross will want to pick this disc up when it’s released on May 15. Hit the jump to check out both setlists and keep your eyes peeled for an order link when one’s available.