Original image of Lionel Richie by There Stands the Glass.
Cheesier than Wisconsin and cornier than Iowa, the music of the Alabama native Lionel Richie can be cringey. During the opening notes of several musty hits during his headlining performance at the T-Mobile Center on Thursday, June 7, the thought “oh yeah, I remember this one” was immediately followed by the realization “oh no, I never liked it.”
Even so, a quarter of the songs made my heart flutter. How I love “Brick House”, “Still” and even the tacky pop of “Say You, Say Me”! I may have been more tolerant of the remainder of Richie’s set had it preceded Earth, Wind & Fire’s audacious outing.
I purchased $25 all-in upper level tickets during Live Nation’s concert week promotion specifically to hear the current version of Earth, Wind & Fire perform timeless hits including “Shining Star”, “Reasons” and “That’s the Way of the World”. Most of the approximately 15,000 people on hand would concur with my assessment: Earth, Wind & Fire owned the evening.