By Ragy (152.163.252.68) on Sunday, August 03, 2003 - 06:34 pm:

Can anyone give a review of this concert?

By Sue (64.12.97.7) on Sunday, August 03, 2003 - 06:57 pm:

SisDetroit posted a review on "the beat goes on" thread.

Mine will be at detnews.com tomorrow ...

By medusa (66.73.8.192) on Sunday, August 03, 2003 - 11:58 pm:

U R the Sue Whitehall, that writes 4 the Detroit News???WOW, I Just figured that out.
Well, Hello Detroit & Hello Sue~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DId U ever do a write up about DMC Hospitals?

By Sue (205.188.209.109) on Sunday, August 03, 2003 - 11:59 pm:

Nope,
Don't write about hospitals, never have.

By JoB (204.42.12.2) on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 04:27 am:

Ragy, scroll down and take a look @ the thread I started entitled "AND IT'S OFFICIAL...". I gave a full review of the concert when they came here to Indianapolis on July 19...

Hope this helps

By JoB (204.42.12.2) on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 04:30 am:

...or better yet, here I'll repost it:


...The Tempts may be my (and most others on this forum) favorite male vocal soul group, and they did a great job Saturday night, BUT THAT CONCERT BELONGED TO THE MIGHTY OJAYS!!!!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, there was a "Legends of Soul" concert Saturday night here in Indianapolis featuring the Temptations, Four Tops, Ojays, and the Whispers. One of the best concerts I have ever been to.
It started off with the Whispers who did an excellent job, singing most of their old hits. I was amazed at how great they still sounded, I mean in terms of their voices, they have not aged one bit. And they still look good too, moving and dancing like they were 25 years old or something :o) About halfway through, they even did a tribute to Barry White, reworking the lyrics to one of their old songs "We Miss you Donnie" (I'm guessing that was for Donnie Hathaway??) and changed it to "We Miss you Barry".

Next up were the Four Tops, led by Theo Peoples (wasn't he a Tempt once?)...but anyway, they sounded great too. It's something about the Tops that just make me love'm, I don't know what it is...When they started the music to "Keeper of the Castle", the guy in the seat next to me just went nuts (I guess that must've BEEN HIS SONG back in the day :o), I couldn't be too mad at him, though, I did the same thing when they started "Ain't no Woman (Like the One I Got)". Near the end of their set, the other three members kind of stepped out of the spotlight and Theo Peoples proceeded to perform the most outstanding rendition of Heatwave's "Always and Forever" I have ever heard in my life. He tore the house down. And I'm just going to leave it at that because I really can't describe in words the way I felt when he was done. It was amazing. Then at the end of the song, he sang out, "This is my promise!"...my take on it is, he was kind of throwing that one out at the Tempts, kind of like, "See? You used to have all of this talent..."...(if you recall, he sang lead on the song "This is my Promise" on the Tempts Pheonix Rising CD).

Then, oh then, came the Mighty Ojays. After Saturday nights concert they are no longer the Ojays to me but the Mighty Ojays. I mean they were the FIRST AND ONLY group to have the entire stadium up on their feet and dancing. I mean they took us to CHURCH, yall. Eddie Levert is the sh*t, and although I have always been a fan of the Ojays, they just made another true, hardcore fan. We were all standing, holding hands in the air on "Love Train", and all of the couples were either dancing together or holding hands on "Forever Mine", they even had people out in the aisles doin' the "bump"...and them Ojays also had the nerve to be dancin' like they was 25 years old or somethin' :o) They got DOWN, and you knew they were feelin' it when Eddie yelled out, "Sh*t, yall done got me started!!!". They definitely get my vote for best perfomance of the night, ending with a funky rendition of "Money".

Last but certainly not least came the main attraction, The Mighty Temptations. Led by G.C. Cameron (ex-Spinner??), they performed a wonderful set of their old hits, which I'm very thankful for, because I thought they were going to sing half oldies, half a bunch of their new songs (which are actually pretty good)...but no, they stuck to the oldies. Well, they did sneak in (much to the crowd's appreciation, might I add) "Stay" off of the Pheonix Rising album. About halfway through their set, Otis says, "People come up to me all the time and ask, 'why don't you all ever do any of your other songs like 'Don't Look Back' or 'I'll be in Trouble' anymore?'...well, we have a little surprise for you..."--and then proceeded to do a medley of their less-celebrated hits, like "Since I Lost my Baby", "The Girl's Alright", "Don't Look Back"...a very pleasant surprise to the hardcore Tempts fans (like myself)...I said it once and I'll say it again, The Tempts were, and still are a class act, and will always be my favorite. I will have to admit though, the crowd had kind of settled down after the Ojay's were through (we were tired from all that dancing!)...

I noticed on another thread (I think it was the one asking about the best live concert you've ever been to), someone mentioned going to a concert with The Tempts and Ojays on the bill, and they said how the Ojays were on, and they tore it up, and Tempts really had a hard time getting the crowd back after them??? Well, let's just say that history has once again repeated itself. The Tempts looked and sounded GREAT, but they simply shouldn't have had to follow the Ojays...you would think that they would've learned by now, that trying to follow after Eddie and his crew just is not a good formula. I still love'm though, always will.

Well, I guess that's the concert pretty much in a nutshell, as I remembered it (to the best of my ability, although I must admit I may have been slightly under the influence of alcohol for most of the concert...sorry, but the breaks between the different groups sets for their bands to set up were too long and the bar was too close to where I was sitting)...I took some great pictures, though. I just couldn't believe how well all of the groups moved and danced, with the Whispers and the Ojays being at the top of the list in that category. I mean, I know that most of the groups have gone through line-up changes, though.
So to those who have said on earlier posts that "oldies" acts cannot fill stadiums, I beg to differ...I saw VERY few empty seats...no, I didn't see any other young people there (it was an older crowd, and everyone kept staring at me and my friend like we were just there cause we got lost on the way to the damn B2K concert or something), but it was packed, nonetheless. I heared an older gentleman mention that it was good, but it "just wasn't the same" as, I'm assuming, the groups' performances from back in the day. I mean, that doesn't surprise me, I already knew that and didn't expect it to be (you know, a big stadium with seats far away from the stage as oppose the more intimate nightclub setting, 50-60 year old men as oppose to the 20-30 year old sound, etc...well, hey, being 20-something, unless anyone has a time-machine they'd be willing to let me use, that's as good as it'll get for me, so I'll take it. And I couldn't possibly end this post without giving HUGE props to the bands. They are to the groups and the crowd shaking their a*ses what the funk brothers are to Motown---without them, it wouldn't have happened. They ALL did great jobs.
The only bad part of the night was when I payed what could be considered to be half of a bill (phone, power & light, cable, pick one) to get into the after-party that supposedly the Tempts, Ojays, and Gerald Levert were supposed to be at, but none of them showed up. If it wasn't for a good old-skool party DJ saving the day with a good mix, I might have gotten myself arrested in an attempt to get my money back (the alcohol, remember?).
So that's it, sorry for the extra long post, but I just had to tell you all about one of the best concerts of my life... :o)

By Dell (152.163.252.68) on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 09:47 am:

The show was here in Philly on 8/1. It is hard to have groups like this on a show cause they all only had 45 minutes and that is not enough time to see all these groups. Also it was my understanding that the Tempts and Tops alternate cities and headlining the tour so in Philly the Tops went on last. The Whispers were first and killed it. Then the Tempts and the Jays. The Jays did not do a lot of there material. They did not do "Forever Mine". They opened with "Living For The Weekend", Backstabbers, Love Train","Got To Give the People what they want", then a medley of "Let me Make Love to You", Cry Together, Darlin Darlin Baby (which at first was a ballad version), I Love Music, Used To Be My Girl, and For the Love Of Money"...I really wanted to see them the most. I love the whispers and see them all the time. I had to see how GC was with the tempts and he was ok. I did not care to stay for the Tops...

By Counterpoint (68.63.5.177) on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 10:24 pm:

On this tour the Whispers always go first; the Tempts and Tops alternate second and fourth positions, but the O'Jays demanded the third position in the rotation for every concert.

Is there something special about being third? Or is it simply the O'Jays don't want to go home late and prefer not getting there early. Obviously they thought there was something special about third. And, in one sense, I think the O'Jays felt they needed that exposure more than the Tempts or Tops.

The reports have been that they've done well. I only wish they dressed better.

By JoB (204.42.12.2) on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 03:00 am:

Counterpoint...I have my own lil' theory as to why they demand the 3rd spot...to tear it UP while everyone (the audience) still has energy, and to show the Tempts up :o)

BTW, at the one in Indy, I thought they looked really good in their white (or were they pastel) suits...I really couldn't differentiate 'cause of the stage lighting.

By Reese (12.15.169.254) on Monday, August 11, 2003 - 11:29 am:

I caught this tour last Saturday night at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. I must admit that I only went because I had a night to fill. But I am so glad that I went.

The Whispers came on first, followed by the Temptations. Then the O'Jays, and finally, the Four Tops closed the show.

All of the groups performed well, but the highlight (based on audience reaction) had to be the O'Jays. They came out hard, and kept that vibe going for their entire show. I left the show with a renewed respect for them.

As an aside, I must say that I was surprised that the Tops closed the evening. They were good, no doubt, but anybody following the O'Jays had to be on point. To me, the Tops were good, but their set didn't have the energy needed to keep the crowd, especially after the O'Jays.

The Tops also had the unenviable position of not coming on until after 11pm, so audience members were leaving throughout their set. The applause wasn't that great and Levi was really missed. Theo is good (he did a killer version of ALWAYS AND FOREVER), but when it came to the Tops standards, I really wanted Levi.

By DJ (130.156.140.2) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 02:28 am:

I also attended the show at Radio City Music Hall. The O'jays had a strong set, but I felt all four acts were superb. The sound system for The Whispers was not as clear, but they were professionals and put on a good show.

G.C. Cameron is just what the Temptations needed, he was excellent reminicent of David Ruffin in style. He is a perfect fit as a Temptation.

I've always liked Theo Peoples singing, he is an exceptional talent. The brother can sing! Levi is always going to be missed, and his stamp will forever be on the group. But they must endure and the show must go on and I'm sure with the blessing of the Great Levi Stubbs.