So on Saturday my folks invited me to a fundraiser for the Pacer foundation for disabled kids. Before you say, "wow, Brew, real charitable beast move", I only went because Earth, Wind and Fire was headlining the event.
Now I always thought of Earth, Wind and Fire as the more commercial side of the funk/soul movement of the 1970's. A little too well-produced and brassy for this soul slingin' superbeast. They have afterall won a ton of Grammy's and had a bunch of radio hits that we've all heard a million times over. I didn't really know what to expect walking into a fundraiser at the Minneapolis Convention Center with a bunch of money bags and their trophy wives in tow.
The show was actually pretty damn amazing. The bass player, Verdine White (pictured) was jumping around the stage like he had just dipped his nuts in a mountain of booger sugar. Philip Bailey proved to be one of the best vocalists I have ever seen from any genre. The dude could just wail, and despite his goofy looking braids, still made the house mom's in the audience drench their undergarments. Original band leader and producer Maurice White acted as conductor leading the group in call and response jam sessions all night, while playing tablas and other assorted percussion instruments.
All too often I've seen concerts with older acts that have left me holding a bag of "suck" with no return policy. This show was not one of those.
Trivia: Which smash hit featured Philip Bailey and Phil Collins?
2 comments:
I just spent a half hour looking for a way to post a video in the comments section. Turns out you can't.
Anyway, I don't know what's worse, the fact that I knew the answer was Easy Lover, but didn't know that Phillip Bailey was in EW&F or this video.
We have a winner. Way to go Donnie.
Easy Lover, what a great jam.
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