Soulful Diva Saturday Night

A Legendary Evening in Brooklyn

While still secondary to the appreciation of recorded music for me (I had an 18 year head start on that), concerts have been a regular part of my life for years—or at least they were before Covid-19 put a damper (not the only damper, but a major one) on any urge I had to be in large, crowded spaces. In the five (!!) years since we initially went into lockdown, my appearances at concerts have decreased to a slow trickle.

I’m starting to poke my head out of that hole a little more frequently these days. I’ve got tickets to at least three shows this summer, with the possibility to add another two or three to the list in the near future. I’m also hesitating less and less when it comes to pulling the trigger on buying tickets. Where I was gun-shy about seeing The Isley Brothers in Brooklyn last year (a show that was ultimately cancelled) and going to Atlantic City to fulfill a long-held dream of seeing The Jacksons (a show that suffered the misfortune of being scuttled when Tito passed away) and even took a flier on seeing Diana Ross mere blocks from my apartment earlier this year, I did not hesitate when I realized that four of the greatest vocalists of all time were appearing on the same bill at Barclays Center, barely fifteen minutes from my front door on the subway.

Billed as “The Queens: 4 Legends, 1 Stage”, this show brought together Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills-four artists who between them have left a legacy that I couldn’t even begin to do justice to. 29 Number One R&B singles between them, to start. All four artists are Grammy winners. Chaka and Gladys are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (and Patti should be). Patti and Gladys even live in TV sitcom lore (not only did both women helm their own shows, but they had iconic guest roles as Dwayne Wayne’s mom on “A Different World” and Overton Wakefield Jones’ mom on “Living Single”, respectively). This felt like a can’t-miss show.

And it was. Although all four women are past senior-citizen age (Stephanie is the baby at 67) and their careers as active recording artists have long been silent (save Chaka, who released a halfway decent album just a few years ago), these women brought style, class, hits and a heaping helping of nostalgia to Brooklyn on a very special night. It probably makes sense to treat this post as four separate concert reviews, since each lady had their own individual set and there was (somewhat surprisingly) no overlapping. So here they are, in order of appearance.

Gladys Knight: On the eve of her 81st birthday, and with rumors of failing health growing louder in the last year or so, Gladys Knight, “The Empress of Soul”, led the proceedings off at 8 PM sharp. While she gave Herculean effort, it does feel like this tour might sadly be one of the last go-rounds for Ms. Knight. She was the only one of the four divas who needed assistance entering and exiting the stage, and she also occasionally missed cues and flubbed words. While she was in strong voice when she did sing (holding some incredibly long notes), most of the heavy lifting was delegated to a (very capable) background singer. Even with all that, Gladys’s warm spirit was evident as she and her band powered through a half hour set jam packed with hits, leading off with 1980’s club banger “Taste of Bitter Love” and continuing with classics like “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” (in an arrangement that leaned more towards Marvin Gaye’s iconic cover than her earlier version), “Love Overboard” and “The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”.

I texted my buddy Mike Duquette that I’d set an over/under for the amount of times I would tear up during the show at five. And each single delivered at least one emotional knockout punch. For Gladys, it was a quick run through 1985’s “That’s What Friends Are For”, a song that she wasn’t even the primary artist on (that would be her sister in the name of love Dionne Warwick), and a song I actively dislike (I attribute that to a combination of oversaturation and corniness). Hearing those lyrics sung by that voice in these times felt like a warm hug from a loved one, and it was strangely that song that’s been in my head the most in the 48 hours since the show ended.

Did you know that “That’s What Friends Are For” was originally recorded in 1975 by The Stylistics? At least that’s what Wikipedia says. I’m listening to their version right now, and the production is very late ‘80s/early ‘90s, so I’m dubious. And Discogs doesn’t list the track as being on either of their 1975 albums…so I’m sticking with Rod Stewart’s (inferior) 1982 version as being the original. Anyway, moving on. Gladys finished her stage with “Midnight Train to Georgia” (leaving with those iconic “I got to go”’s) and the stage revolved, leading directly into…

Stephanie Mills: Of this bunch, Stephanie experienced the least pop chart success, but she’s a powerhouse nevertheless. She was a consistent gold or platinum seller from the late ‘70s through the early ‘90s, hit the top of the R&B singles chart on five separate occasions, and although she semi-retired later in the ‘90s to become a mom, sporadically releases music through the present day (and also remains a fairly active live performer and social media presence). This show was also a homecoming for the Brooklyn native, who cut her teeth on Broadway as Dorothy in the Tony-nominated musical “The Wiz”. Leading off with uptempo hits like “Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin’?”, “You’re Puttin’ A Rush on Me” and “Something in the Way You Make Me Feel”, Stephanie provided a welcome burst of energy, occasionally bounding across the stage to sing to both sides of the audience. She made sure to plug her latest single (although she didn’t perform it), and showed off those Broadway pipes to fine effect during her 30 minute set. She also showed off the pipes of her two male background singers with a gospel-charged version of “I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love”, and got the whole audience in their feels with her rendition of “Home”, the centerpiece of “The Wiz” that she turned into an R&B chart-topper at the turn of the ‘90s. I’ll tell you what—the lyrics of “Home” hit a lot different as you age and you’ve seen some shit in your life.

A quick break followed Stephanie’s set, while I made small talk with the lady sitting to my left. She (like me) expressed a bit of surprise that Chaka was closing the show (her face alone was on my ticket), but also I’m going to avoid that narrative because women (especially Black women) have enough to deal with without the subtext of every single discussion being about a power dynamic or catfighting.

Patti LaBelle: I was super excited for Patti’s set, not only because she has been near the top of my bucket list for years, but also because the show took place on Patti’s 81st birthday. The diva came out in a full feathered getup (she complained about the heat several times and me and my seat neighbor were both like “well, maybe if you removed some of those feathers…”) to the strains of “New Attitude”, and gave us a slightly modified version of the full Patti experience. She wasn’t going to get down on the floor and roll around because she’s 81, but she flung her pumps off almost immediately, threw long-stemmed flowers into the first rows (“damn, for an old lady she got an arm!”-seat neighbor), made reference to her existence as a meme (shouting out “my background singers” several times), delivered the closest thing to a political statement during the entire show (by performing the LaBelle classic “What Can I Do for You”, making reference in her stage patter to the tumult we Americans find ourselves in at the moment, and by specifically calling out her gay fans), and…oh yeah, she sang. I will take this opportunity to gripe a little about how Patti and other singers in her age range (I’m pointing at you Michael McDonald) often resort to showboating to exhibit how much their vocal gifts remain with them instead of just singing the damn songs. But it’s a minor gripe, and Patti gave her all. She fluttered her wings, she fluttered her wigs (there were multiple), and she even pulled out audience members to sing and dance during her set closer, “Lady Marmalade”.

As far as emotional high points go, 1983’s “If Only You Knew” (her first solo Number One) is a song that makes me tear up even in its studio version, so hearing it live was a highlight. It was followed by Patti’s legendary showstopper “You Are My Friend”. Her performance was accompanied by a lengthy scroll of pop culture figures who’d departed this Earth, from Otis Redding and Minnie Riperton to Sylvester (whose version of the song is still the definitive one IMO) to Kobe Bryant and Aaliyah (who generated the most applause from the audience) to Angie Stone and Roberta Flack to David Bowie and George Michael to Michael and Prince (appropriately, the last two slides). For a pop culture junkie like me, it was like seeing my life flash before my eyes. I sort of got lost taking in the fact that so much of my formative experience was tied into the alive-ness of these people who now weren’t. It took me a minute to get back to the here and now and focusing on the artists performing tonight, who are very much still with us.

Ignore the person making the intro and focus on the performance, please…

At the end of Patti’s set, the Black Promoters Collective (who put the event together) presented her with a cake (“look at how big that cake is!”-seat neighbor) and Patti made a gracious, but emotional acceptance speech. I was amazed at the vitality this woman possesses at her age. Plenty of arena-fillers half her age could never. Another short break, and it was time for…

Chaka Khan: Patti and Chaka were both intro’ed with video montages listing their achievements, which would feel like an ego stroke if not for a) being Black performers during an era when they routinely got short shrift compared to their White counterparts, b) being Women performers during an era when they routinely got short shrift compared to their male counterparts and c) the fact that they all have achieved success in their field for over fifty years and deserve every opportunity they can get to bask in their glory.

Chaka strolled out to the strains of “I Feel For You”, accompanied by a troupe of dancers (maybe the same dancers who came out to dance to “Boots on the Ground” during Patti’s costume and wig change?) and then proceeded to wail through 45 minutes of classics, spanning the early ‘70s (“Tell Me Something Good”) through today "(“Like Sugar”). Chaka was also the only of the four artists I’d seen live before, and although she was a bit more physically active during the previous performance, that voice hasn’t lost even half a step. Most of her songs were in the original key or even sped up, and none of the substance-related idiosyncrasies that are part of Chaka lore showed up for this performance. Like the previous three sets, it was hit after hit (all four ladies left at least two essential songs out of this show’s setlist) until the night officially closed with audience singalongs on “I’m Every Woman” and “Ain’t Nobody”.

From an emotional standpoint, Chaka’s reading of “Through the Fire” (thankfully unsullied by its association with Kanye West) was a high point. From an artistic standpoint, her rendition of “My Funny Valentine” (one of two songs performed from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack at this show) showed off Chaka’s still very sharp jazz chops.

I write about gratitude a lot, and how important it is to me for many reasons. I gotta sit for a minute and think about how lucky I am that I live in a city where I even had a chance to see this show (never mind getting home from a show that ended just after 11 by midnight even with spending 20 minutes on line for merch). Then I gotta think about how lucky I am that I could afford a ticket to the show. Then, how lucky am I that I have music in my life? And how grateful am I for all of these things PLUS how grateful am I to have lived during a time when all four of these ladies were also around to share their art with the world? A lot of gratitude, a lot of emotions, a lot of soul, and a lot of love made for an unforgettable night.