Project Description

LIONEL RICHIE

+ CHIC featuring Nile Rodgers

@ AIS Arena

(Live Review) – 04/04/18

By Dana Hashem

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The news of the iconic Lionel Richie coming to the nations capital hit me by surprise. Artists of this significance generally don’t come to Canberra and it was surreal walking through the foyer at the AIS Arena with huge banners of one of the greatest legends of soul and funk.

Chic and Nile Rogers opened the show, wasting no time providing an incredible performance filled with number 1 hits that Nile Rodgers has written and or produced. The soul, funk and disco performance complemented the show with an extraordinary atmosphere. Chic showed off their talents with each member owning that stage. Their set list consisted of hits like, Like A Virgin, We Are Family, Le Freak, Good Times and Get Lucky.

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“We are not a cover band, I wrote and produced all these hits”

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It’s no surprise that Rogers is an icon in the music bus and last night his performance along side Chic was absolutely incredible.

But, the time has come for the man of the hour, Mr. Lionel Richie. With an awesome cinematic like intro and the ever so familiar “Hello” echoing through the arena, Richie appeared on stage in a beautiful sequence red jacket that shined the stage. With no introduction, he jumped on the grand piano and effortlessly belted into Easy.

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“This show is about ‘All The Hits’, so we’re going play you all the hits, all night long”

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I got excited thinking he was about to perform All Night Long, then I realised he will save the best for last lol. The 68 year old icon remained energetic through out the whole night and may also add that aside from the music he is also a comedian! Richie also took the time early on in the night to thank a fan who handed him a bouquet of roses, saying that she had bought first row tickets to every show of his Australian tour.

Richie started off slow with hits like Running With The Night, Penny Lover, Sail On, Say You Say Me and Three Times A Lady and easing his way to his ever so funky tunes like Brick House. They were executed in such magical manner. We forget how old this icon is and although he didn’t quite hit the mark vocally, the passion through his Alabama tone remained a crowd pleaser. To remind us how old he is, Richie made funny remarks regarding the mum’s and the grandmas asking what were they doing in 1976 and who they were doing it with.

The game changer of the show was Richie’s heartfelt performance of We Are The World featuring the Michael Jackson. Lionel took the time to honor Jackson’s legacy and the impact he had on him and the world. The visuals didn’t quite hit the mark for me as it was a karaoke style performance however, the demographic of the audience consisted of older people and I would assume they enjoyed it, well at least my mum did.

Lionel ended the show with All Night Long, a true pleaser. The show had heavy nostalgic value and overall was an incredible performance by Lionel Richie, Chic and Nile Rodgers. As a 21 year old, I think it’s so important to attend shows of such value, to appreciate the history of music especially within the genres of soul, funk and disco.

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