– by Chadbyrne R. Dickens
[cover photo and additional photos provided by Drew Gurian]
“We have been through a journey together and we’re not done yet” – Lionel Richie
On a bustling Tuesday night in Brooklyn at the new Barclays Center, a music legend enchanted a capacity crowd of 18,103 with a bevy of hits from an impressive catalog spanning nearly five decades. 64 year old Lionel Richie enthralled an energetic and participatory crowd with a performance that spanned over 2 hours. With 11 released albums under his belt, the Grammy and Academy Award winning singer/songwriter returned after years of relative obscurity to own the house that Jay-Z built.
Although a different genre than Lionel Richie, the band that is well-known as NOLA’s King of Funk, Dumpstaphunk, were chosen to open five shows on Richie’s 2013 tour. Richie personally chose the band when he heard all the submissions to support his tour. He was excited because he knew they were the right band to get the party started – and they did. Hard-hitting drummer of Dumptaphunk, formerly of Beyonce‘s band, Nikki Glaspie, added, “It means a great deal to open for somebody like him. Given our current pop climate, it gives me hope as a musician who believes in songs to see an arena full of people who just simply love good music.” The soulful quartet started it off with a thick and bouncy groove with “Everybody Wants Some” a fitting opener to the show and the first song from the 2010 album of the same name that included the contagious “woo-hoos” towards the end. Daniels interrupted the lyrical flow of the tune to direct, “Let’s get this party started!” The powerful band proceeded to blast through an explosive six song set that only increased with energy and purpose as the Center’s seats began to readily fill with patrons.
Although the band has played to enormously populated festivals all over the country, this performance marked their largest indoor crowd, with their previous appearance at the 1st Bank Center in Colorado being slightly smaller. The talented outfit has been revered in the mainstream media lately, including Rolling Stone Magazine coverage of their Outside Lands Festival performance with John Oates in the Super Jam. There has also been consistent praise for their recent record drop, “Dirty Word” of which 5 of the 7 songs delivered on this night derived. Demonstrating their patented sound with a thrust of blues, highlights included the mesmerizing bass thumping on “Water” as well as an intense guitar solo by bassist Tony Hall, while Ian Neville played rhythm, on “Blueswave.” The new song, “They Don’t Care” contained soothing background vocals and an incendiary build to climax. Ivan Neville, often found head bobbing like a hipper Mike Gordon, reminded us of the ultimate strong suit of the band, “We’re giving you two of the baddest bass players around – and in one band!”
With Daniels and Hall both dropping bass bombs, it is easy to witness how this exercise feeds off each other. Daniels stands more stoic when juxtaposed to the bouncy and amiable Hall, but both are equally effective in sharing the groove. Tony Hall exclaimed, “You should recognize this one” before the band jammed through the highlight of the night. The cover of the Funkadelic‘s “One Nation Under a Groove” closed the opener’s set in tornado fashion, showing off groovy chord progressions and a catchy funk bass hook, warming up the crowd even better than anyone in Richie’s camp could have dreamed.
Set List: Everybody Want Sum, Water, Reality of the Situation, Blueswave, They Don’t Care, Dancin’ To the Truth, One Nation Under A Groove
After a successful career mostly singing ballads with the Commodores in the 1970′s, Richie commenced his solo career in 1982 and immediately scored a #1 with “Truly.” He would play all his hits including selections from his tenure with the Commodores. The show opened with him yelling his well known, “Hello??” before he attacked the stage with the energy of a man half his age. He pranced along up and down the stage and along the wings. “Just For You”, the title track from his modestly successful 2004 album. Completely the showman, Richie famously hosted the 1985 American Music Awards where his catchphrase “Outrageous!!” entered the pop culture vernacular. With a broad smile that is rivaled only by Magic Johnson, he yelled, “Lots of songs tonight everybody, lots of songs” before busting into the Commodores #1 hit smash of 1977, “Easy” which contained a nouveau calypso arrangement before seguing into his solo ballad, “My Love.” The crowd was worked into a frenzy when he shared that “Endless Love” would be next. After sharing that his friend, Diana Ross, twice declined his invitation to sing their duet together live he said, “I know there are 8,000 Diana Ross’ out there!!” With the lyrics adorning the jumbotron, the crowd followed suit in an energetic participatory endeavor that was truncated. Although a hit-making singer and sexy dancer, Richie is most respected as a prolific songwriter. With “You Are” he demonstrated the point admirably while singing the US #4 hit from his self-titled 1983 album.
Recently, after years living overseas and a well-documented struggle with alcohol, a famous meme circulated on Face Book. It was a picture of Richie on a “Lost” flyer with the caption, “Hello? Is it me you are looking for?” He had been living in such obscurity that a generation of Americans knew him best as reality TV star Nicole Richie‘s father. However, the show saw him back in impressive fashion. The night summed up a brilliant career as if it were a living “Behind the Music” but with a happy ending. The stage production was enticing with effective projected visuals that corresponded to each song like that of a nightclub behind him during a crooning love song, projection of a ballerina during “Ballerina Girl” and various city life during “Running with the Night.” Taking a page from VH1 Storytellers, he meticulously explained the meaning of three of the songs. Sometimes behind the piano and others alone in the spotlight downstage, Richie continued to bombard the crowd with hit after endless hit.
Other highlights included the crowd favorite that inspired the entire venue to dance, “Dancing on the Ceiling” as well as a fiery and energetic medley of Commodore songs including the epic dance classic, “Brick House.” Finally, his sharing of his well-known work, “Hello” from his renowned 1984 Can’t Slow Down album had the crowd fully engaged. Only Richie could inspire so many into such a frenzy with a slow and melancholy love song that most knew by heart. Juxtaposed to the beautiful love song, the next chart topper was a bona fide party pick me up of epic proportions. Richie ripped into the iconic party anthem and #1 1984 hit, “All Night Long. The song is one of the most known around the world. Richie had reemerged as a star last year with the release of a highly successful country album, “Tuskegee” and he even had a surprise sit-in during Kenny Roger‘s set at Bonnarroo.
Finally, as the encore, he surprised us after sharing, “There is one song I’ve written that gives back” before taking the vocals for a complete rendition of the song he penned (with Michael Jackson) to help aid world hunger in 1985, “We Are The World.” One could easily get lost in pleasant nostalgia and embrace the genius of Lionel Richie sharing the hits one has enjoyed for decades. Richie eloquently stated that the one statement he tells himself everyday is, “One day I hope we find intelligent life on Earth” – well, fortuitously we found Lionel Richie years ago and his brilliantly crafted songs remain addictively pleasing and intelligent.
Set List: Just For You, Penny Lover, Easy>My Love>Easy, Ballerina Girl, You Are, Truly, Endless Love, Running With the Night, Still, Oh No, Stuck on You, Dancin on the Ceiling, Three Times a Lady, Love Will Find a Way, The Only One, I Call it Love, Sail On, Fancy Dancer>Sweet Love>Lady>Just to be Close, Zoom, Say You Say Me, Brick House>Fire, Hello, All Night Long Encore: We Are the World
Check out pictures from Dumpstaphunk’s set here.
