I watched the concert in the cinema last night in London. Has about a 20-30 minute intro highlighting her career and promotion by her children discussing the concert, Tracee in particular, nothing by Diana herself. Then follows the concert, edited highlights of the first rained-out night with assorted TV reports and presumably the whole footage of the second night. At the end of the credits there was about 5 minutes of black and white rehearsal footage.
I found the preamble was getting rather self-aggrandising but the concert itself, which I had never seen in full, was impressive. Some songs were thrown away a little or out to the audience, particularly the Supremes medleys. Highlights were a dance sequence with a male dancer and her very emotional rendition of "Endless Love".
I wanted to find out who the dancer was and the band and backing singers [[two women and a man, who duetted on "Endless Love") glimpsed from the back at the end as they were amazing, but they were not credited at all. Does anyone know who they were?
I saw the film last night as well. Even though I saw the original show back in 1983 and have watched it countless times since, it was still great to see it on the big screen. Some of the editing was sloppy and they cut out many songs, but I'm still glad I went.
The dancer was Michael Peters, who was also shown in the b&w footage at the end. The backing singers were Bobby Glenn, Sharon Wade, and a third woman whose name I don't know. They sang with Diana for many years.
As others have said, the dancer was Michael Peters. Most people know him from his work with Michael Jackson on the videos “Beat it” and “thriller”. Very well known. As far as the singers, I believe most of them were her same background singers Diana used when she filmed her 1979 HBO Caesar’s Palace concert. Is the other name rocq-e harrell?
It was a joy to see Miss Ross on the big screen.
Rocq-e Harrell & Bobby Glenn.
Rocq-e Harrell is/or was living in Holland.
Many thanks for he info, Bobby did a solo album in 1978 "Shout It Out" and a few singles, including a couple for Ian Levine, including the duet with Rocq-e Harrell.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/868283-Bobby-Glenn
Bobby & Rocq-e were also backing Diana on the 1989 "Greatest Hits Live" CD, along with Peggy Taft.
I went to see a screening last evening and it was a wonderful experience, both in terms of entertainment and nostalgia. I attended both shows in Central Park and have great, vivid memories of both evenings. Viewing again all these years later I was reminded of the joy in the audience as the excellence of performance by this truly once-in-a-lifetime performer. Diana was at peak form, in great voice, personality, and style. The band was even better than I remembered [[perhaps the sound mix did not travel well over the 55 acres of Central Park's Great Lawn!). The flow of the second evening's full concert was a bit choppy, due, perhaps, to last-minute set-list changes and almost certainly to Diana's emotional state of seeing hundreds of thousands of cheering, dancing fans stretched out before her and as far as they eye could see. Ross was in high-energy mode for the 'Maniac' dance sequence [[I did not remember that she performed this and the follow-up songs barefoot!) and the up-tempo songs as well. It's funny to think that at the time of the performance Diana was thought of as an old-timer superstar, yet she was 'just' 20 years into her record-breaking career. And here we are, 36 years later, still witnessing wonderful performances by this American treasure. Diamond Diana, indeed!
A tough question ! In her book, "Secret", Diana wrote that for the second day she had to change her costume and "ended with something I wore before".
I think she talks about the purple body. So when could have she wore this outfit? I have never seen a picture.
Yes, pictures of the 83 tour are rare. At least, I noticed she wore the CP orange body suit, and the Muscles body and the final gown several times after.
She had, to my knowledge, 3 set of body and cape. The red from "Pieces of ice" clip, the orange and the purple.
To her own standards, she was experimental in 83. An unusual record sound, cover, and a new costume designer, Issey Miyake, a France based japanese stylist.
Last edited by Albator; 03-29-2019 at 03:14 PM.
I saw the Central Park film last night in the theater..very enjoyable on the big screen
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