Diana Ross at Casino Rama

[drlorne]

Any comments about her concerts last week?

[carlo]

I attended the Friday evening show and had a fantastic time! She was fabulous, as always. There were a couple of points where she sounded a little hoarse [[maybe because she had been singing the previous evening), but she was still flawless, in my opinion. I only wish she would come back and do one of the performing arts centers in the GTA or Roy Thomson Hall, like she did in 2010. The casino shows always have that time restriction in place, as she came back for a second encore of "I Will Survive" after leaving the stage the first time, and probably would have done "Reach Out And Touch", had it been a different venue. I also hope next time she comes around, she will sing some of the other songs she dropped from her 2010 show [[ie. Reflections, It's Hard For Me To Say, Mirror Mirror)...and possibly even bring back the video screens, string players and other horn players...I know that's stretching it a bit though.

[carlo]

I was also disappointed they didn't have the merchandise table like they have reportedly had at other venues on this tour.

[drlorne]

Thanks Carlo. Glad to hear it was good. I saw the Roy Thompson Hall performance and Casino Rama and Niagra Falls Casino performances too. But decided I had seen this performance twice now, so didn't fly down this time. I'm still playing my set list from '14.

[jobeterob]

Do Casino's insist the shows end early so people spill out and stop in the Casinos?

God!

[carlo]

Yes, most casino shows are shortened to 75 minutes.

[carlo]

I don't blame you, drlorne. I was struggling with the decision of whether to attend as well, as I have also seen this same show four times now.

[jobeterob]

75 minutes does suck; I saw her in Vancouver at the River Rock Casino 3 or 4 years ago; she'll be there again. It was the regular show before and not sure I will make it there again. However, we know she has a limited number of years doing any show at all.

Does anyone know if she always sings All We Do Is Win if it is at a casino?

[carlo]

Yes, she sang "All We Do Is Win" as part of "I Will Survive" very briefly during the Casino Rama show. Loved it!

[jobeterob]

I wish they would crank that up to a full song!

[reese]

I went to see Diana tonight in Providence, RI. Even though the set was very familiar to me at this point, I still think she put on a great show and the audience loved her, only sitting during the ballads. She was in pretty good voice, even though it cracked every now and then. She also used the mike stand more than usual.

The show was barely an hour, and the only encore was a reprise of I WILL SURVIVE. But considering she was in a car accident yesterday, I think she did more than well. She vaguely referred to it near the end of the show, saying how happy she was to be "anywhere," but she didn't elaborate except to say something about "knocking sense into my head." [[On Facebook, she mentioned she had a bump on her head from the accident.) She also said that Providence was the last date on this leg of the tour. Hopefully she can now get some rest and come back strong this summer and fall.

Her daughter Rhonda was the opening act and got a pretty good reaction to her 20-minute set, especially when she mentioned she attended college in Providence.

Re merchandise, there was very little. 2 shirts, both with the photo from the ONE WOMAN set, a program, and Rhonda's cd.

[drlorne]

Thanks Reese. I saw her comment on my Facebook feed.