Review: GLADYS KNIGHT's Rockin' New Year's Eve at WALT DISNEY HALL

What can one say about pop/rock living legend Gladys Knight? A 7-time Grammy winner for gospel as well as R&B/pop hits, this lady at 71 years young, still rocks. She looks and sounds amazing! On New Year's Eve, Knight made an appearance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for two concerts, one at 7 pm and the second at 10: 30 pm. I attended the 7 pm show, which was a near to full house of genuine fans, those who have followed her career since the 60s when she appeared as Gladys Knight and the Pips. A great five-piece band backed her: musical director Leon Turner; Darryle Woolfork on drums; James Davis on guitar; Joseph Green on bass; and Yuko Tamura on keyboard...and four terrific backup singers: Alexus Hoover, Brandon Smith, Porcha Clay, and JaVonte Pollard, all of whom got into the act a little bit later in the 90-minute set.

She opened with hits "I Want You", "Land Lord (and Keeper of my Love)", in which she encouraged audience to sing out Land Lord and Keeper, and "Love Overboard" before she plunged into her Motown sound with the unforgettable "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". Knight told a sweet, humorous story after "Grapevine" about being a Christian girl and being chastised not to ever gossip about anyone, but that since it all came from someone else's lips, it was OK, for God would be less likely to punish her.

Other highlights included: "If I Am Your Woman, You Are My Man", "The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me", and then there followed what I consider to be the finest part of the evening. The stage hands rolled out a piano, and Knight asked permission to break from her rock/pop style to sing some standards the way she had learned them. These were "The Man I Love", "Stormy Weather", paying tribute to Lena Horne, "Someone to Watch Over Me" and then "The Way We Were", whose melody and lyrics Knight proclaimed to love. This was a wonderful switch to show younger folks what music used to be like, but after a costume change into a pretty royal blue gown, Knight joined her backup singers and young dancers to perform a lively, rousing contemporary "It Don't Matter Who You Are", bound to appeal to the younger generation but showing that the gal's still got enough energy and stamina to get out and move with the best of them. Great transformation between music styles! Right before the dance, the backup singers each took a turn to entertain with the likes of "Rock with You, Rock the Night Away". They were all in fine form. And after Gladys's turn with all of them, we were treated to a groovy "Midnight Train to Georgia", which will undoubtedly remain the lady's signature tune.

The last segment of the concert introduced Merald Knight, Gladys's brother, nicknamed Bubba, who had been one of the Pips, and who really added class and mischievous fun to the act with "Yesterday" and his old school moves. "Auld Lang Syne" was listed to be performed but they did not do it at the 7 pm show.

This was an excellent walk down memory lane. I grew up with Gladys Knight's music of the 60s and 70s, and I marveled at how she hasn't lost a single bit of that spring and sparkle that have always been a part of her delivery. This is nicely infused with a spirituality that will not quit and that she insists, thankfully, on passing on to all generations, as the entire company closed with "Halleluyah, Let the Church Say Amen". Amen!

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