Patti LaBelle Blows Modesto Away — A Concert Review
The incomparable Patti LaBelle made her Modesto debut Wednesday night at the Gallo Center for the Arts, and the occasion wasn’t lost on her.
“Have I ever been here? I don’t think so,” LaBelle asked from the stage, after an expectations-shattering entry from one side of the auditorium while singing “Over The Rainbow,” complete with the classic’s rarely-performed prelude.
Anyone who follows LaBelle knows that she typically reserves that show-stopper for her finale, and fans patiently wait for their eardrums to be assailed by LaBelle’s still impressive pipes. I’ve often joked that Judy Garland is probably awakened in her grave each time LaBelle sings “Over The Rainbow” and references those “…teeny, weeny birds… .”
Who opens a show with their finale, I wondered, pondering what the now 79 year old diva could possibly do to follow it. I’d seen her just once before, about 20 years ago, when she brought the house down at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. I didn’t dream that this Modesto show would hold a candle to that one, which left me scurrying for every Patti LaBelle CD that I could find.
I was quickly reminded that LaBelle hasn’t been at it since the early 1960s because she didn’t know what she was doing.
LaBelle followed “Over The Rainbow” with a 90 minute review of most of the immaculately sung hits that have made her a show business legend. The show was full of all of the humor, warmth, and vocal dynamism that her fans have come to expect since she stepped out of the confines of two iterations of her group (Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells, and later Labelle) before cementing her place as a solo icon with a string of smashes including “If Only You Knew,” “New Attitude,” “On My Own,” and “When You’ve Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven).”
LaBelle delivered a slice of that heaven to Modesto, barreling through most of her hits during a non stop barrage of singing and dancing, the latter of which with a handful of lucky audience members who were invited to join her on stage. One of those fans had waited decades for the chance to meet his diva.
“I’ve been seeing Patti since I was 17 or 18 years old, when I snuck out to Lake Tahoe to see her,” the 55-year-old Lou Otero told me after the show while still trying to catch his breath. “Everybody has got to see Patti LaBelle! It was the best night, getting to meet her! I kissed her hand! Girlfriend’s still got it — she’s looking amazing! They say ‘Black don’t crack,” but I was like ‘wow!’”
Otero and I are in agreement about LaBelle still having “it.” Like most of us, she was moving a little slower than she used to, and while her voice no longer defies the laws of physics, it absolutely defied this writer’s expectations. With Aretha Franklin having gone to glory and Tina Turner having retired, LaBelle is one of the last of the original divas that’s still standing, let alone doing what she clearly was sent to earth to do.
One of the few songs I wanted to hear that LaBelle didn’t sing was “You Are My Friend,” but she more than made up for that with a killer version of Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is.” And her encore? A patiently awaited, funky rendition of one of her biggest hits, Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade.”
“Volez vous couchez avec moi?” Oui, merci, Madame LaBelle. Oui!!!
If you want to catch some of LaBelle’s “wow,” she’s got tour dates scheduled thru June 18, at press time, on pattilabelle.com. If you flash a smile like Otero’s, you just might get called up on that stage. And if you want a little more classic soul at the Gallo Center for the Arts, Smokey Robinson’s stopping by in August.
Connect with freelance writer Michael P Coleman at michaelpcoleman.com, or follow him on Twitter and IG: @ColemanMichaelP
