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I saw The Temptations and 4 Tops in concert last night, and while The Temptations were absolutely INCREDIBLE, The 4 Tops portion of the show was seriously lacking. It made me quite sad.

Otis Williams has somehow consistently found singers who can pretty-closely replicate the Temptations hits, and their show is well planned out, tight in routines, and just superb.

The Tops, at least last night, were off. Yeah, the group sounded good on the hits, but there was a lot of off-the-cuff chatter and wasted space between songs, and while their lead vocalists are talented, they just do not sound like the classic 4 Tops. Guess no one can replicate that Levi Stubbs voice.

The worst part of the Tops's show was Duke's tribute to Levi, Obie, and Lawrence. It went on and on and on, and he mumbled his words... It was hard to understand what he was saying during his long tribute monologue. Then, he sang "My Way," and while I have incredible respect for this 80-something year old road warrior, I have to admit that it was really, really, REALLY bad. Duke should not sing solos at this point in his career, no matter how heartfelt. It was painful. During this portion of the show, I would estimate that a quarter or more of the audience got up and left. It just went on way too long, and people just lost interest. I felt bad for the group.

Have any of you seen these groups recently? Have you had the same experience as me or something quite different?