Last week, the borough of Brooklyn got their souls soothed when Soul singers Teena Marie, Jeffery Osborne and Ruben Studdard shared their God-given talents with the crowd who came out to Wingate field despite the hot weather and brief windy weather that slightly occured.
The show began with American Idol winner Studdard's band playing with the announcement of him being announced that he had become the second winner of "American Idol" and before you could blink an eye, the Alabama native, walked on stage in a cream-colored suit.
"How you doing?" he asked in a southern drawl before he performed his hits "Fly Away," "So Sorry" and "Why You Wanna Change Me?" which had elements of Gospel and Jazz thanks to the keyboardist and call and response between Studdard and his background vocalists during the performance of the former, while the later had the brothers singing along with him.
He then performed his current single "What It Would Take" before he closed his set with a tribute to Luther Vandross by peforming the late singer's classics "Bad Boy/Having a Party," "Never Too Much," "So Amazing" and "Until You Come Back To Me/Superstar", which for the later featured him showcasing his range by doing riffs away from the microphone. He also had the women scream sing it baby, while he sang 'it's alright, it's alright' just like Vandross who was Studdard's main inspiration and idol.
Former LTD member Osborne followed by appearing on stage wearing a black suit and performing "Come All The Way" and "Don't You Get So Mad About It", which had the audience out their seats singing and dancing. After addressing the crowd, he performed his classic ballard "I'm Only Human" with a LTD medley following before he performed his rendition of Teddy Pendergrass's classic "Close The Door," which should have had a slower tempo, but the band's breaks and Osborne's soulful vocals compensated for the loss. The sexy 60-year old legend also had fun with the audience with attempts to hook the brothers up with a potential date for the evening.
"I'm about to set you up for the night" he said before he performed the bride 'let me make sweet love to you baby' and asked the brothers to look to a female and sing the bridge to her as well. When they fell sort of short, he asked the females to sing the bridge, and they did in a soulful and sexy way.
"Damn you're making me warm up tonite" he told the brothers.
Osborne then performed his classic ballad "On The Wings of Love" where he removed his blazer and performed soulful riffs, and a sexy call and respsonses with her background vocalists during his performances of "Hold On" "Concentrate on You" and "Take Your Time" where his female vocalist sang 'take your time' as Osborne removed his vest, and grinded his hips.
"You know what I'm talking about" he said before he performed "You Should Be Mine (The Woo Song)." Wanting to have futher fun with the audience, he asked two members to sing the hook of the song, and while they didn't have strong voices, they gave it their all. He closed his set with his former group's top charting classic "Back In Love Again" which had the crowd dancing, singing and clapping their hands like they were at a party in the 1970's.
Motown legend Teena Marie's set began with photographs of her being displayed on the monitor before she appeared on stage in a white suit and performed a hot powerful version of Lynn Collins' classic "Think (About It)" which had the crowd out their seats pumping their first and snapping their fingers.
"Brooklyn, you're bad!" she said before she performed her classic "Behind The Groove" where she danced with her background vocalist, before launching into her ballads "Dejavu" where she incorporated Reggae music and chanting into her the classic, while she showed her sensual side during "Portuguese Love" which feature her singing "I got your back and leaning of the back of her sexy saxophonist Adam Flectcher, who along with her guitarist Dave played some hot Rock, Jazz and soulful solos. After acknowledging her musicians, she took the crowd down memory lane with her debut single "I'm A Sucker For Love" which she played guitar and gave props to President Obama and saying that all she wanted to do be the head of the music department in the White House as well as singing happy birthday to a female member of the audience. The show was going well until the stage hand told Marie that she had only fifteen minutes left to perform. Neither she or the crowd wasn't pleased to hear that and she decided to displayed her ghetto side be reminding the staff that she was contracted to perform a certain amount of time.
"My contract says 75 minutes" she said as the crowd applauded her for taking her stand.
After getting things straightened out, she performed a Jazzy version of her top charting ballad "Ooh La La La", putting the crowd in the mood for love, but one of the show's highlight was when she asked her daughter Alia Rose to sing Faith Evans' part on "Can't Last A Day", and both mother and daughter sounded great together earning a standing ovation from the audience, who was impressed with her daughter's professionalism and range (mother is raising her well). The touching part of her set came when she paid tribute to her late mentor Rick James by performing their classic duet "Fire And Desire" and let me tell you, she hit the notes higher and longer than the actual recording (something that Brintey Spears and Jessica Simpson aren't skilled to do). She sang that song with so much soul and passion that I though that Rick was going to make a surprise appearance from heaven to join her. She added some Gospel flavor to the song ad libbing sometimes I don't even know my name, which had the audience shouting and in tears. She then performed her Pop hit "Lovergirl" and closed with "I Need Your Loving" and "Square Biz."
The show was hot, but it would have been better had Studdard acknowledge Luther Vandross as he performed his songs, while Osborne should have performed his former group's hit "Stranger" as well as had his female vocalist join him to sing the duets "The Last Time I Made Love" and "Love Power" songs that he performed with Joyce Kennedy and Dionne Warwick. Marie's performance was good, but I would love for her to incorporate The Fugees' Fugee La along with the original version of "Oh La La La" which she had been doing since she returned to performing in the early 2000's. All in all it was a good concert and showed Brooklyn that people of all ages and races do have soul.
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