Sheila E. owned the Stockbridge Amphitheater on Saturday.
The “Glamorous Life” singer brought a frenetic energy to a 50-minute set that left the audience exhausted from standing up and bopping to hits she charted four decades ago, along with a healthy dose of songs penned by her mentor Prince.
She wasn’t alone. The three-hour concert also featured Midnight Star and Morris Day & The Time, both of whom electrified the audience with funk and pop hits that ruled the charts when many of the concertgoers — now in their 40s, 50s and 60s — were pre-teens up to their early 20s.
But it was Sheila E., 64, who showed age ain’t nothing but a number as she ran back and forth on stage singing, danced as if on fire and beat her drum solos with a fierceness that many half her age wished they could do. Those trying to record the performance suffered from whiplash as their cameras were in constant motion to keep up with her.
And when she drummed, she’d hit the skin so hard the stick would fly up in the air and land to some lucky audience member. Magically, another stick would be in her hand to replace the errant one.
The concert started strong. Midnight Star, decked in green and white suits, jumped in immediately with “Freak-A-Zoid,” an electric-funk hit from 1983 that proved the group came to slay. Fans were up and out of their seats as soon as they heard the robotic “Z-O-I-D-S” chant.
“This is all original members of Midnight Star,” vocalist Bo Watson said of the group. “God is good.”
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess
With just 40 minutes to perform, the group didn’t bother with filler songs. It was all hits, including “Wet My Whistle,” “Midas Touch” and “Operator.” They slowed things down a bit with the excellent “Slow Jam,” before challenging the audience’s dance skills with “Electricity” and the song that would make them bona fide stars, “No Parking (On the Dance Floor).”
Sheila E., decked in an iridescent pants suit that shimmered a dark grape shade, took it from there, opening with a mashup of The Beatles “Come Together” and “All You Need is Love.”
“We are here for this one moment,” she would say later during the set. “We want you to turn to one person in your surrounding, look them in the eyes and say, ‘I love you.’”
“Leader of the Band,” a samba that Sheila E., whose last name is Escovedo, performed with Prince in the past, pulled in a Latin groove to contrast against the cool night in the outdoor amphitheater. It also served as the introduction of Prince, whose name and influence would loom large during the night as an architect for the careers of both Sheila E. and Morris Day & The Time.
“Holly Rock” from the film “Krush Groove” and “The Belle of St. Mark” from “The Glamorous Life,” followed before she brought the crowd to its feet with “A Love Bizarre,” the hypnotic duet with Prince that she called “The love song that made me famous.”
Those who thought she’d stop there were worn out after she launched into a Prince medley — “Erotic City,” Let’s Work,” “U Got the Look,” “America,” and “Baby I’m A Star,” ending with her biggest hit, “The Glamorous Life.”
“Listen, I’m going to be 65, I’m tired,” she said as she left the stage.
Not to be outdone, the ever suave Morris Day & The Time took the stage and made it clear they had arrived with Day’s signature line, “What time is it?”
Those few words lit a fuse, with fans out of their seats as the band ran through its hits, “Get It Up,” “Cool” and “Fishnet.” And, of course, Day had his side man hold his mirror up to make sure his coif was perfect, as well as his bespoke suit, polka dot ascot and white linen kerchief.
“Atlanta helps me with my coolness,” Day said to cheers.
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess
The band, currently in a fight with the Prince estate over the use of their name, paid homage to the “Let’s Go Crazy” singer in a video of his hits and their celluloid rivalry with him in “Purple Rain.”
Day demonstrated just how cool he and his bandmates are with the smooth “Gigolos Get Lonely Too.” With a cream-colored jacket draped over his suit, Day crooned the ballad with the help of the audience gamely filling in the chorus.
But it was the closing numbers that made the crowd wistful for the days of padded shoulders and skinny neckties with “The Walk,” Prince’s “DMSR” and the classic “The Bird,” which saw fans flinging their arms in the air in unison.
