Who doesn't love the Motown hits? Oh, I'm sure there's some cranks out there who do not but they are wrong. Period.
The Magic of Motown traveling show came thru Omaha last night and though it wasn't exactly a packed house, it was a show full of energy both from the singers AND the crowd. The rotating cast included four male singers handling the Four Tops, Smokey, Sam and Dave, and the Temptations while the three female singers knocked it out of the park with Martha and the Vandellas, The Supremes, a killer version of R E S P E C T and another killer version of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You performed by a young lady stating how she hoped she did justice to the song, much to screams of "You got this Girl" and other encouraging shout outs. She, of course, like she does every night, killed. It was phenomenal.
The show is a sort of Vegas type tribute show and there is nothing wrong with that because it's all about the music. People of a certain age made up the vast majority of the crowd. Black folk, white folk all singing along and the black folk proving that they got the moves and the white folk do not but nonetheless, they have fun. Watching old white people dance never fails to amuse me and it didn't disappoint yet again.
So much talent on that stage and it's a shame that I don't know any of their names because the Orpheum Theater in Omaha has one of the worst sound systems in existence. If you didn't know the lyrics to the classics, you were left out. The introduction of the cast of singers was garbled and indecipherable. Oh well, all I can say is that one guy doing Smokey and MJ was fantastic. That one woman doing Aretha was kick ass and that other woman doing Whitney was marvelous. Sorry I don't know your names.
Notes:
They used local musicians in this show. Sax players and guitarist were local. Keyboard player and drummer are with the show. All of it was smooth as hell.
Late Arrivals--I mean Ive been there getting there late. But 99% of the time I am in my seat on time. This crowd walked in 15 minutes late, a half hour late and it's a pain in the ass distraction. In this case CPT doesn't mean what it usually does. This time it stood for Creamy People Time or Cracker People Time. Be on time people.
The sound system---It sucks. Sometimes a show will bring in their own sound systems and sometimes they just use whatever atrocity passes for a house sound system. This show relied on the in-house sound people. I'm not blaming them; they only have to work with what they got, but cmon man. FIX IT!
The Magic of Motown-- worth it? Absolutely. The music is timeless. The performers are great. There's a joy in the air listening to these classic hits. What more can you ask for?
If it comes back, I'll Be There and there Aint No Mountain High Enough to stop me.
