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It’s ‘The Best Disco in Town 4’, a stadium tour of the UK. Tonight’s stopover is a near capacity Wembley Arena.
We’re here for a bit of a bop, a little dance floor nostalgia served up by original disco masters. It maybe sing-along time for the ‘Rivers of Babylon’ generation but in particular, we are here for Evelyn
‘Champagne’ King, The Three Degrees and headliners Chic.
The opening act is Boney M albeit with a much changed line-up and surprisingly better than any us can remember. It’s all basic stuff but the
singers really do get us joining in with songs like ‘Hooray Hooray it’s a Holiday’ and ‘Brown Girl in the Ring’, a great opening act for the show.
Evelyn is next up. The now 44-year old songstress
from New York made the top ten only once in her short career. ‘Love come down’ made the number seven slot in 1982 but it’s her first hit ‘Shame’ that we really want to hear.
That number never made
the top ten but at the time earned her a gold disc in the US and a silver one in the UK after it became the biggest selling transatlantic 12-inch single in 1978, remember them? She performs both songs with great
panache tonight in extended arrangements. We love it.
Next up is the world’s greatest girl band of all-time, The Three Degrees. What will these sophisticated ladies of soul treat us to tonight? The opener
is ‘My Simple Heart’, their last top ten hit in the UK from 1979.
Two hits from that time ‘Giving Up Giving In’ and ‘Woman In Love’ follow before their grand finale ‘When Will I See You
Again’, the summer number one of 1974. We love it all! Valerie Holiday, Helen Scott and Cynthia Garrison look and sound great so it’s a shame that their set must be so short tonight given there are seven
different acts on the bill.
The Emotions, closely linked in their day with disco masterminds Earth, Wind and Fire, are up next. Somehow ‘Boogie Wonderland’ just doesn’t sound the same without the real
Phoenix horns in the background.
Candi Staton enjoyed something of a revival in the UK after producer John Truelove remixed ‘You Got the Love’ to give himself a top three hit in 1997 as the Source. She
opens her short set with that song.
She also looks and sounds great tonight rounding off with her first and most famous hit ‘Young Hearts Run Free’. From its chart success, narrowly missing the number
one slot back in 1976, the record has become a stand-by for just about all self-respecting party DJs and disco tribute bands across the country. It goes down an absolute storm tonight. We love it!
The
Pointers Sisters, who for the record are actually sisters, are up next. These second generation disco divas packed the charts with their hits in the 1980s and five of them are conjured up tonight including ‘I’m
so excited’, ‘Automatic’ and ‘Jump (For My Love)’.
Brief pause while the house band makes way for the roadies to effect the necessary technical adjustments on stage for the headline act, Chic. The
band virtually invented the disco genre back in the heady days of 1976.
Featuring the many talents of guitarist Nile Rodgers and his partner, bass player Bernard Edwards, the duo soon found their record
producing expertise in demand by just about everyone from David Bowie to Powerstation, Diana Ross to Madonna.
Sadly, Edwards died tragically in 1996 after the band’s famous performance at The Budokan,
Japan. Nevertheless, their back catalogue has been plundered by ‘all and sundry’ for hit after hit ever since from The Sugarhill Gang on Rapper’s Delight (‘Good Times’) to Modjo on ‘Lady’ (‘Soup for
One’) and Fatman Scoop ‘Be Faithful’ (‘Chic Cheer’).
Nile Rodgers brings his band on stage to rapturous applause and breaks into ‘Everybody Dance’. It’s an all-star cast including Omar Hakim
on drums, Jerry Barnes on bass and vocalists Sylver and Jessica.
Pausing briefly to take in some hits Nile and Bernard penned for Diana Ross and Sister Sledge, there’s a great medley of hits served up
which culminates in ‘We Are Family’, another great disco daze anthem.
Rodgers, a brilliant guitarist in his own right, is still very much the King of the Dance majestically leading his entourage. The
jewel in the crown is a sparkling version of ‘Good Times’ with the ‘Rapper’s Delight’ segue way rap thrown into the middle section of the number.
After 34 songs and seven acts, it’s time to wend
our way home until, that is, the next instalment of the ‘Best Disco in Town’, soon we hope!
Boney M: Sunny; Daddy Cool; Hooray hooray it’s a holi-holiday; Brown girl in the ring; Rivers of Babylon
Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King: The way I feel about you; Love come down; Shame
The Three Degrees (www.thethreedegrees.com): My simple heart; Giving up, giving
in; A woman in love; Dirty ol’ man’; When will I see you again
The Emotions: I don’t wanna lose your love; Boogie Wonderland; The best of my love
Candi Staton (www.candi-staton.com): You got the love; Nights on Broadway; Suspicious minds; Young hearts run free
The Pointer Sisters (www.thepointersistersfans.com) I’m so excited; Automatic; Fire; Guitar man; Jump (for my love)
Chic: Everybody dance; Dance, dance, dance; I want your love;
Medley - Coming out / Upside down / He’s the greatest dancer / We are family; Le Freak; Good Times
Review and photograph by Alan Howard
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