Gladys Knight still carries the mantle Empress of Soul, and delivers a masterclass of music from the heart, drenched in pain and sorrow and the peace that comes with lifting that load.
She began singing as a four-year old in church and recognised as a prodigy. This is the Southern Black churches, and she was conscripted early into the William Brown College Choir, an Atlanta gospel group.
Winning talent competitions before she was ten. She was, and remains very family-oriented, and the singers behind her came from siblings and cousins. This was as early as 1952. As Rock’n’roll was gestating, the Pips were also coming together.
The guy that galvanised it was a young white teenager who used to sneak into the Black churches growing up. Rock’n’roll music is basically Rhythm’n’ Blues and Gospel music, he famously defined.
Of all the Grammys and recognition she has won, she is also on the Rolling Stone list as one of the top Rock vocalists of all time.
I am reminded of this when she opens with a medley. Taste of Bitter Love combined with Nitty Gritty and a booty-shaking Jackson Five song Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground).
All from her second most successful period with Motown.
She has a big revue band to deliver this. They avoid grandstanding solos in favour of economy and elegant precision.
Three female backing vocalists who can match the leader in emotion when called upon. A precision drummer paired with a multi-instrumental percussionist. Two keyboard players who can also supply the horns and strings. An on-point bass, and a lead guitar who can pull out some judicious rock and funk riffs.
A perfect complimentary band. Gladys Knight covers her iconic songs from the early Sixties and on to her best solo music.
First big hit as Gladys Knight and the Pips was Every Beat of my Heart, written by Johnny Otis. The song still retains the heavy influence of vocal group R’n’B which eventually came to be called Doo-Wop, by a radio DJ in 1967.
They were drafted into Motown when Knight and her young family moved to Detroit.
Immediately they made their mark. When touring with the massive hitmakers the Supremes, Diana Ross had them kicked off the tour as Knight was getting too much attention with her soulful delivery.
But Gladys and her guys were the first to record I Heard It Through the Grapevine, a stone classic of Voo-doo soul by the great songwriting team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.
Tonight, it is done in an earthier R’n’B style, as opposed to Marvin Gaye’s smoother icy passion delivery. Some funk from the congas, and it is pitched between Gaye’s version and the straight Rock’n’roll of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
The Funk continues with I’ve Got to Use My Imagination, a superb song which breaks through genres and could easily be called Rock.
Darkness all around me/ Blocking out the sun/ Emptiness has found me. She still retains that fierce vocal power, delivered without histrionics or over-emoting.
This is the music that captivated me when I was addicted to the American Top Forty, delivered every Sunday morning by Radio Hauraki.
That was the regular Sunday-go-to-church for some of us.
That song comes from their most successful period, on Buddah Records from 1973.
So did Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, which is ecstatic but restrained Soul at its very best. Gladys can still hit those stratospherically high notes. But the backing singers also carry that weight to help out.
The last big Pips hit Love Overboard, and Gladys sing it with a hard edge and again defines in part what Rock music is. Gladys, you know you love too hard/ But I tell ‘em/ Not nearly hard enough!
Lou’ana is local singer-songwriter Lou’ana Whitney Pereira, and her opening set is mostly smoky and sultry Soul Jazz with a smooth velvet delivery.
She is playing electric guitar and has a keyboard player in Dylan beside her.
The music is minimal and perfectly sets a song like Moonlight Madness, which has the air of the divas from the Sixties.
Then she can turn around and throw out Delta Blues guitar licks and get tougher with some earthier vocals. As on Daydreams.
A perfect way to preface the headline act. The sold-out audience surprisingly stayed (mostly) quiet for this.
They got much noisier when Gladys Knight came on. This is called her Farewell Tour, as she approaches eighty.
There were many shouts for Georgia!
Before that we got a beautiful version of The Way We Were, of course first recorded by Barbra Streisand and Gladys version can stand alongside this.
Take Me to the King was a showcase for the three backing singers as well, as they all combine in a high Gospel emotional style. What do you say when your friends turn away.
Of course, the show finishes with Midnight Train to Georgia and most on the bottom floor are on their feet, more in reverence than in dance. It is a love that burns style of song.
Gladys Knight paid a deserved homage to herself. Is this the final farewell? Hopefully not.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Leonie Moreland
Gladys Knight
Lou’ana
Discover more from Red Raven News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.