The Tina Turner Concert
Greensboro, NC
4/1/2000
I had the opportunity to go to the Tina Turner Concert this April. It was great to see her perform again. She is SO AWESOME! The set was very cool, the dancers were great, the musicians wonderful and the experience was thrilling. I came away from the whole thing being very envious of Tina's remarkable resiliency and energy. I hope I have a fraction of her energy when I'm her age. Heck, I wish I had it now. :-)
The concert was opened by Janice Robinson. She did a good job under very difficult circumstances. She sang her heart out on several different tunes I'd never heard before, but found myself enjoying. Unfortunately, her only backup was a single electric guitar. The sound system was lousy, and the crowd was not kind, though, she did get them interested at the very end of her set
Next came Lionel Ritchie. This was a total surprise for me. No one told me who was opening the concert for Tina, so I was shocked when out cam one of my favorite love song crooners. He sang all of the songs that every body knew. It was amazing to me how many hits the man had. I'd never really thought to count them up, but all he did was sing his songs that had gone to the top 10 or higher. He sang for over an hour and everybody sang right along with him cause we all knew all of the words. One of the funniest moments in the concert came when he told the story of being mistaken for his own son... Since he wanted everyone to recognize who he was, he hauled out this little box, opened it up, hid behind the lid, and put on a huge afro wig so that we would all know it was really him. Very Funny! He then proceeded to sing a few of the Commodores songs. It was great fun!
Then Tina came on the stage. It was great. She sang songs from various stages of her life and career as well as the new songs from her latest CD. She sang songs like "Private Dancer", "What's Love Got to Do With It?", "We Don't Need Another Hero", "Proud Mary", and many more. It was a very energetic show, though she did make a point of giving the crowd an opportunity to sit down and rest. Both she and her dancers/back-up singers changed costumes numerous times during the show. The band was encased inside the set. I still haven't decided if I liked that or not. It was really cool the way it worked, but I had visions of the Hollywood squares. Still, it was fun, and the set did open up and move around... Always a cool thing. :-)
All in all, it was definitely worth the $50 + that I paid for the ticket. If you haven't had a chance to see this amazing lady in concert, I'd definitely encourage you to do so. It will be worth your time and money!!
