Smokey

He's still got it!

Last night I went to see Smokey Robinson at the Hard Rock Cafe. The audience was a strange mix but there were still women screaming out, "Yeah Smokey, you sing it Smokey!"

The venue, not exactly the most ideal for a concert due to the acoustics or lack of acoustics, was small and fairly intimate. The hall seats about 5,000. Every seat was filled. The ushers had their work cut out for them -- a challenge because some of the patrons were a bit more frail than they are used to showing to their seat.

We sat in the front row of the second section on the floor of the hall. It was a great seat because we were on a small riser and there was no one in front of us to obstruct our view. But because we were on a riser, anyone that was coming in late or getting up to go to the restroom had difficulty in seeing the step up or down. The usher wasn't always standing there with her flashlight and many would trip or slip on that step. I grabbed many an elbow to steady that person during the concert. A bit of a distraction, but it didn't really bother me.

Out came Smokey in front of an orchestra (all local musicians!!) complete with a baby grand piano, a string and horn section on stage left; drums stage center; and additional instrumentals on stage right with his three back-up singers downstage right. Smokey was dressed in all grey -- shirt, slacks and jacket that were sprinkled with sequins. He just stood there smiling at the audience and they went nuts!!

Then I had to laugh because remember when we would light a match to get the mood right? Or to get the rock star to come back out?? Now everyone whips out their camera phone to take photos! So the dark audience was illuminated by a soft LED glow! that was really the only high tech thing about the entire evening.

At one point, Smokey went off to change into black slacks, white shirt, bright red jacket with a black sequined tie and a black handkerchief in his breast pocket -- look extremely dapper -- he sang standards -- Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, etc. With his falsetto voice still clear as a bell, Smokey hit every single note.

Then he launched into a medley of Motown hits -- which he wrote for greats like Diana Ross and the Supremes, Little Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye. The audience was rockin' and so was I.

So yeah . . . he may be 66 years old, but you would never know it by listening. You could have easily closed your eyes and believed that you were sitting in at a concert in the early 1960s.