I met my pal at Richmond station yesterday at 5pm and after a swift coffee we made our way to The Duke for a glass of wine and an early supper in the rather nice dining room there. Now my friend is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about Motown and we spent a while trying to guess which songs would be played.
And then we set off to Richmond Theatre for an evening of happy memories listening to Motown’s Greatest Hits. The place was hopping and whilst there were a lot of mature people there, it was gratifying that there was also a fair few youngsters too. Now let me remove my critical reviewer’s hat for a moment. The five guys who sang were enthusiastic and made a great effort to connect to the audience – encouraging us to join in with the singing, to get up and dance and even – at one point – to take the hand of the one we were with. They were charming and funny.
A good number of the anticipated hits were played – including “How sweet it is”, “Standing in the shadows of love”, “I second that emotion”, “All night long”, “Heard it through the grapevine”, “Let’s get it on” and “The way you do the things you do” before a pre-intermission selection of Stevie Wonder songs including “Superstition”.
During the break I oscillated between my friend in the bar and some folk outside who were talking enthusiastically about the show. The second half opened with “Loco in Acapulco” and went on to include “Love machine”, “Superfreak”, “Do you love me” and good medleys of Edwin Starr and Jackson numbers.
By the time we got to “Dancing on the ceiling” I think just about everyone (myself and my companion included) were on their feet and singing and dancing along. They closed the evening with “Stand by me” and, a curious choice, “End of the road”.
We left the theatre and made our way to The Sun Inn down the road where we struggled past the somewhat boisterous rugby folk in the front bar to the relative quiet and big squishy sofas at the back where we talked about the show. It was an excellent evening of relaxed, jolly fun and we were happy.
Now let me put my critic’s hat back on. Most of the band members were listless and if I didn’t know better would have guessed that they were either recovering from a heavy night or were mostly session musicians who hadn’t played together before. I’m not even going to mention the saxophonist.
Whilst the guys managed to sing “Just my imagination” (one of my all- time favourites) really well, with melodious harmonies, some of the singing left a little to be desired. And whoever did the costumes and choreography should be shot – really, there was simply no grace or fluidity. I don’t think they would have made it through the off-screen auditions on a TV talent show. There are millions of videos on YouTube showing how the Motown stars moved – have the choreographers never seen them? I felt embarrassed for the guys - when they broke loose and did their own thing, they were fine.
My companion – whilst enjoying some of his favourite music – was as perturbed as I was about some of the uncomfortably bad musical elements and the fact that there were no female singers (not even for backing) – what about all of Motown’s fab females?
I love Motown. With a passion. And of course I sang along. But compared to the recent show at Richmond by The Drifters http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/blogs/showblog.php?post=2616 this show was not really up to scratch. But I’ll go again to see these guys, hoping that they manage to sort themselves out and put on the sort of show that they are surely capable of delivering.
http://howsweet.co.uk/ for future venues and dates
