Smokey!!!!

OK, the backup band wasn't so hot (although the saxophonist had very good solos); it played too loudly, often overwhelming Smokey's voice; it's music often didn't seem to fit "Motown" music. The crowd was pretty small; only about a quarter to a third of the pavilion was filled and the hill was as sparse as I've seen it (yet another thing Detroit needs to be embarrassed about, not selling out a Smokey Robinson concert!). The show began about 40 mins late, for no apparent reason. The first couple of songs, good ones, were disappointments due to the band and Smokey's voice didn't seem right. Karen and I surmised, well, 67 (some say 69) is getting up there in years and....

And the rest of the concert was terrific!!!! Smokey was at Pine Knob. Karen and I have attended his last three there and I didn't want to miss this one, maybe his last (67 or 69?). Yes, early on, prospects weren't inviting--the voice wasn't there and his moves (Well, Smokey was never going to be a Temptation, but who was? Not even the new, fake Temptations.) were, well, 67 (or 69). But once he hit on a short Motown medley of songs he wrote for others, it was Katie Bar the Door! His "My Girl," esp with the audience participation, set the new tone. (Of course, I may be biased; I think "My Girl" is one of the two best songs--ever, by anyone.) Getting the audience into it and then taking a brief intermission, The Smokester began hitting all the high notes. His earlier, "Ooh, Baby, Baby" was a bit choppy, a false foreboding of what wasn't to come. Esp on some of his earlier songs (that maybe only three of us there remember, but ooh they are great), he sounded like the Smokey I remember and know. He ended with a long, long version of "Cruisin'." Again, audience participation was terrific. Smokey knows what he's doing. The Motown training and almost 50 years of performing make his a very polished show, very polished. I wonder if he responds to the audiences in other towns the way he does here. And, I wonder if the audiences in other towns respond to him the way they do here. What brought the house down was "Tracks of My Tears." (Again, I admit my bias--this is the other of the best two songs--ever, by anyone.) The audience, I think every single person, was singing along. Dancing accompanied in the seats and in the aisles--I couldn't see all of the hill. When it came to perhaps the greatest poetry ever in a pop song, "My smile is my make-up I wear since my break-up...," he let the audience take over. And it did--everyone! Electrifying.

He also did some lesser known, likely to most people, songs, including one of my favorites, from his very second album, "I'll Try Something New." (The lyrics include, "I'll pretend I'm jealous, of all the fellas.....") And, later on, in another, "Just like the desert shows a thirsty man, a green oasis where there's only sand...." And who else not only includes "camouflage" in songs, but rhymes it????

(On a side note, it's practically inconceivable to me that the Miracles' first Motown release, "Way Over There," was a flop. It's a terrific song!!!!! It has great lyrics and Smokey hits some great notes. The Temptations did a version of it on their album, "The Temptations Sing Smokey," and it, too, is outstanding, Eddie Kendricks on the lead. Listen to it sometime.)

Of course, blaring on my car CD on the way home was, "The Ultimate Collection," which we sang all the way.

I'm sure his concerts of 30 and 40 years ago must have sounded better (at one he said, I remember distinctly, "We're gonna bring the roof off of this here Ford Auditorium," in Downtown Detroit off Jefferson by the river), but I doubt they had the same effect on me that this one did (and I've loved every Smokey concert I've ever attended, including 40+ years ago, still with the Miracles--actually, it was the Miracles, no Smokey Robinson in the group's name at all until later). A great evening, suspending time for just a couple of hours!!!!!!