Monday, April 28, 2014

Lady Sings the Blues, the Wiz, and the Supremes' Songbook

by Pa Rock
Child of the Sixties

She came out singing "I'm Coming Out," and the place exploded!

Diana Ross had them rocking in the aisles, between the rows, and across multiple balconies with her high-energy show at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City last night.  Miss Ross, best known as the lead vocalist in the 1960's Motown girls' group, The Supremes, did an hour and eighteen minutes of songs that everybody knew.

No one in the audience sat for the first fifteen minutes of the show, opting instead to to clap, wave, dance, and sing along with the star.  A good portion of the audience appeared to stay on their feet throughout most of the show, a fact that forced others to stand if they wanted a view of the entertainment.  The seats were almost in the way!

The singer and film star who turned seventy last month looked and sounded great.  During the relatively brief time on stage, she managed to effect four different costume changes,  displaying four sequined gowns of different bright colors (some with feather boas), and one pants suit.  It was impossible for the spotlights to avoid her.

I sat next to a couple who had seen Diana Ross at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City thirty-seven years ago.  They probably had a good time at the first show, and they definitely had a great time last night.  I also overheard one young man who was near the center of the first row (I was in a great seat in the third row!) saying to another person that he follows the show from city to city - a groupie!

(There is a wonderful line in the book, Baja Oklahoma by Dan Jenkins, which tells the difference between a "groupie" and a "roadie."  It's an hilarious book, so read it and learn something useful!)

But back to Diana Ross:  The concert was super, bringing back memories and feelings from my youth - and it was well worth the more than two dollars a minute I paid for the seat that I hardly sat in!

Next month, Cher!  Then if I can ever catch Tina Turner in concert, I will have hit the diva trifecta!  My bucket list is ambitious!

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