Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
By the time Gladys Knight took the stage just before 10 p.m., beaming and resplendent in a raspberry-colored outfit, she had to work a bit to get the crowd re-energized.
Fellow soul masters The O’Jays had wrapped a spirited set 40 minutes prior and it was apparent that some of the audience, which filled about 2/3rds of Chastain Park Amphitheatre, was growing weary on a school night.
While she edged into the set quietly with a jazz-flecked “I Want You,” Knight soon turned to a snippet of Michael Jackson’s “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” and the pop-funk of 1987’s comeback with the Pips, “Love Overboard.”
Crowd adrenalized. Mission accomplished.
The Atlanta native, a radiant-looking 71, seemed loose and energetic as she skip-stepped across the stage, bantered with her five-piece band and rocked her hips to the rhythm.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
With a voice that sounded full and throaty and every ounce Empress of Soul-like, Knight dove into her distinctive, shoulder-rolling version of “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” leading the song seductively at first, then carrying it into an audience-participation soul revival.
Because of the late start, Knight only had an hour to perform before the Chastain witching hour of 11 p.m. and at times the show felt oddly paced – rushed in some parts, but plodding in others.
She talked frequently, and at length, between songs – about relationships and the power of imagination. Knight was also a gracious hostess, thanking the crowd repeatedly and telling them, “I wouldn’t be here if not for you.”
As Tuesday was the 14th anniversary of the death of her niece, the R&B singer Aaliyah, Knight also used the stage to pay tribute. She incited a whoosh of "ooohs" when she launched into a cover of Sam Smith's "Stay with Me," her quartet of backup singers providing the heavenly background chorus.
Knight clearly doesn’t go through the motions. You can see it in her scrunched eyes and clenched fists and hear it in her octave-spanning voice, whether she’s knocking out a gutsy vocal performance on the emotionally wrenching “Neither One of Us” or selling the drama beautifully in a cover of Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were.”
She also cleverly paired a version of Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” (sung by one of her male backup singers) with her own “If I Were Your Woman,” for a passionate duet.
The hometown crowd received a jolt with the appearance of a former Pip, Knight’s brother Bubba, who bounced around the stage and enthusiastically performed a musically taut but vocally spotty take on “Uptown Funk” with Knight and the band. It was all meant in good fun – and it was – but given the condensed time frame for the show, a few more classics would have been better suited.
Of course Knight obliged with the smoky, love-will-conquer-all "Midnight Train to Georgia," which will always be preferable to a midnight plane to Houston.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Earlier in the night, Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, Eric Nolan Grant and a crew of 10 musicians – including a four-piece brass section – and two backup singers barreled through a 65-minute set of O’Jays nuggets.
Levert’s voice was unsettlingly gruff initially, but any rough edges were immediately forgotten once he started shaking his rump at the crowd.
Songs such as “I Love Music” and “Back Stabbers” were driven by percussion and horns, and the trio’s harmonies sounded rich and angelic, particularly on a chill-inducing morsel of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready.”
Many songs stretched into R&B jams, such as “Lovin’ You,” their No. 1 R&B hit in 1987 courtesy of Gamble and Huff, the songwriting team that provided so many of their classics.
But The O’Jays, with their coordinated dance moves and raw, soulful expressions, always marked their territory with a unique sound and, of course, personality.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Levert’s was on display often. At one point, he roamed the stage in Barry White mode, telling fans how much he wanted to love them in varying degrees of sexual innuendo. But then he turned serious, reminding the crowd, “We all need to come together and make the Earth a better place,” and also led a birthday sing-along for Williams, who turned 72 Tuesday.
The O’Jays’ set was delivered with the practiced polish of pros who have been doing this for 50-plus years (a bit less for Grant, who joined the founding friends in 1995) and when they closed with the triumphant trio of “Love Train,” “Use Ta Be My Girl” and the bass-snaking “For the Love of Money,” only the most rhythmically-impaired were still sitting.
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