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Ladies’ night and the feeling was right


17th December 2007, 6:45 WST


My sister had waited 24 years to hear Lionel Richie play his soppy mega-smash Hello in the flesh and she told me that the gap between buying his 1983 album Can’t Slow Down as an impressionable six-year-old and Saturday night’s concert was all worth it.

My normally sensible sibling was among the many females at the first of two shows at Sandalford totally losing their cool for a 58-year-old smoothie with a back catalogue of schmaltzy love songs.

“I wish he was my dad,” the young lass sitting behind us said to no one in particular, perhaps imagining that it was she rather than Nicole Richie who was adopted in 1983, while wives and girlfriends hugged their blokes.

Oh, it was ladies’ night, and the feeling was right. And, despite sprinkles of rain later in the show, we were gonna have a party, yeah, all night long.

The party took a few songs to kick into gear after Richie joined his polished five-piece band. There was a bit too much gravel in the caramel of his vocals and the mix was a bit clunky on the opening number Just For You and the cheesy listening of Penny Lover.
  
But, after greeting the 12,000-strong audience and commenting that “rock’n’roll was easy, Nicole Richie was difficult”, the genial pop superstar hit his stride on Easy — one of several tracks by his old 70s soul legends The Commodores performed on Saturday night.
  
“When I say nostalgia, I mean big afro,” Richie quipped before ploughing into the yacht rock with a country feel of 1979 Commodores’ hit Sail On.
  
The fit-looking music veteran mixed up the ballads with up-tempo numbers, like synth-pop favourite Running with the Night, and plenty of audience interaction, such as a karaoke session for the ballad Stuck On You. Both songs came off the hugely popular Can’t Slow Down, which won the album of the year Grammy in 1985 and has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
  
One of the more impressive segments of his concert came when Richie ushered the band off stage for a “one-on-one” performance of Commodores’ tunes Still and Oh No. Accompanying himself on piano, the syrupy qualities of voice came to the fore.
  
Out from behind his keyboard, Richie proved he also has some moves as he worked both ends of the stage for the 1986 party fave Dancing on the Ceiling, before changing tempo again with The Commodores’ romantic chestnut Three Times a Lady.
  
The ladies in the crowd filled in for Diana Ross on the 1981 duet Endless Love, with the Alabama-born singer quickly moved into a medley of Commodores’ funk numbers, including Fancy Dancer and the super-funky Lady (You Bring Me Up).
  
The last of Richie’s five US No. 1 singles, Say You, Say Me, had almost all 12,000 fans swaying in the light drizzle before the band swung back into full-on funk mode for the 1977 disco-era classic Brick House, which closed the main set. During the song Richie, with his saxophonist and guitarist in tow, searched the front rows for suitably voluptuous women.
  
The encore kicked off predictably but rightly with Hello, the super-schmaltzy 1984 piano ballad that prompted some critics to dub Richie “the black Barry Manilow”, as emotional meltdowns were triggered throughout the audience (including right next to me).
  
The relatively short encore finished with another 80s hit, the Caribbean flavoured All Night Long (All Night), with Richie encouraging us to dance like Beyonce and Shakira.
  
Richie’s final words were “see you next year”, so perhaps my sister and her fellow fans won’t have to wait too long for another Lionel fix.

CONCERT
Lionel Richie
Sandalford winery
Saturday, December 15
Review: Simon Collins

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