A 'Midnight Train' that never gained much steam: Gladys Knight at Mohegan Sun's Arena

Gladys Knight can "shock and awe" with the power and stamina of her voice. She can move an audience to tears with her rendition of "The Best Thing that Ever Happened." She has one of the most successful careers of any pop/soul singers ever! Her career spans five decades and includes two separate runs in "Smoky Joe's Cafe' on Broadway as well as a national tour with the show. She had her own showroom in Vegas long before Celine Dion or Barry Manilow came to town.

 

With all of that potential on display at Mohegan Sun's Arena, Gladys Knight gave a musical performance that was great while it lasted, which was almost exactly an hour.

 

Sinbad opened the show and did an exceptionally clean fifty minutes of comedy. He did current-event bits on Dick Cheney, American Idol and Medicare Part B. The crowd was quickly won over when it became clear that Sinbad has moved into the " married, baby-boomer with bad knees" genre of comedy. His material was strictly family-friendly and safe.

 

After an additional forty-five minute intermission, Ms. Knight's older brother "Bubba", who was an original Pip, introduced her. Gladys came out strong. Looking fit and comfortable in a black velvet pantsuit, she opened her portion of the show with "Love Overboard" which was a solo hit for her after she split from the Pips sixteen years ago.

 

Gladys was backed by three singers and a five piece band, which included two separate drum set ups and drummers.

 

Gladys then took the audience on a journey back starting in 1961 beginning with Glady Knight and the Pips' first record and a couple of songs from the early Motown years. There was a special nod given to the original motion picture soundtrack of "Claudine" which was recorded by Gladys Knight and The Pips and starred Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones.

 

She segued into a version of "The Way We Were" that made me wonder, just for a couple seconds, who recorded it originally. It was the highlight of the evening. The audience, clearly in the mood for nostalgia, loved it.

 

"Bubba" came out and did some shtick with his "little sister" and a comic take-off of the Rev. Al Green. It was a lot of "vaudeville" with, just a little, great singing.

 

Then Gladys sang a couple more songs that included, "The Best Thing that Ever Happened" and closed with "Midnight Train to Georgia". Gladys' voice throughout the evening was strong, clear and beautiful. Her voice possesses the same clarity and fullness that it did the first time we heard it on the radio.

 

Between Sinbad starting late, his fifty minutes, and an additional forty-five minute intermission the audience had been in the Arena for two and a half hours at 10:00 p.m. Gladys was only forty-five minutes into her one-hour set and the audience was bleeding people.

 

Gladys Knight with Special Guest Sinbad was an entertaining evening by folks that had the ability to make it an unforgettable evening.

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