"If a container holds 50 percent of its total capacity, is it half empty or half full?" That was a question I pondered while sitting in traffic outside the Blaisdell Arena and assessing Earth Wind & Fire's Saturday night concert. Earth, Wind & Fire ignite,
but some hits are missedReview by John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.comRalph Johnson, Philip Bailey and Verdine White -- the members of the original hit-making ensemble who are still touring -- performed almost two hours nonstop. The trio was excellent. The musicians were tight. The staging and lighting was simple but sufficient. And yet ...
The group assembled on the darkened stage and opened the show without fanfare. There was no opening act. None was necessary. And yet ...
Set aside any lingering memories of the EWF extravaganzas of years past, and the band is as strong as ever. And yet ...
"Reasons" lacked nothing.
Bassist White personified perpetual motion: spinning, jumping, running in circles and clearly loving every minute of it. Dressed in white (knit pullover, fringed trousers, boots), his thick mane flying, White dominated the stage even when two singer-dancers were performing in hootchie-mama mode. The women were obviously trying very hard to be sexy but for the most part were just tedious.
In contrast, White was a sincere showman going where the music and his soul took him, becoming the strongest visual element in the show.
Johnson, who harmonized on some songs and played percussion on others, contributed a more conservative but notable presence. He and Bailey did most of the talking. The traditional EWF "attitude of gratitude" was in full effect.
"That's the Way of the World" was a bit shorter and contained fewer "yeeeows" than in the definitive 1975 version, but was a great close and still has a fine message to share. "September" and "Let's Groove" were other highlights.
The group generated so much energy that only a serious EWF fan would have noticed the songs they didn't do. Thus the conundrum. They could have done more in the same amount of time.
There were too many musicians' solos and too much shtick in the 110-minute show. A powerful horn section is an essential part of the EWF sound, and the current trio -- Ray Brown (trumpet), Reggie Young (trombone) and Gary Bias (sax) -- upheld that tradition in style. But a few more hits could have been played if some musicians' spots had been trimmed a bit.
As it was, the show lacked momentum.
A percussion/drum solo at almost exactly the halfway point proved perfectly timed for a bathroom break, and a number of fans took advantage of it. The lengthy lead-in to a 1970s segment -- general nostalgia, not the elaborate EWF costumes and pyrotechnics of the era -- took too long to set up and provided too little substance. White can play classic bass riffs as well as most of the original artists did, and has certainly earned the right to play whatever non-EWF stuff he wants to for a minute or two. That would have been enough.
And did they really have to waste time with one of those "fellas" vs. "girls" audience-participation bits? A group with a discography as rich as EWF shouldn't waste time with stuff like that.
And, did I have a "senior moment," or did EWF not play "Sing a Song" or "Saturday Night" or "Got to Get You Into My Life" on Saturday? It would have been nice to hear "Sun Goddess" and "Mighty Mighty" and "Happy Feelin'," too.
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