Review: Earth, Wind & Fire, at the NIA, Birmingham
Review: Earth, Wind & Fire, at the NIA, Birmingham
When you’ve been kicking back the funk for the best part of four decades, there’s no need for an extended warm up.
Undaunted by the weight of their phenomenal recording history, Earth, Wind & Fire opened their show at Birmingham’s NIA with arguably their best-known UK hit, the euphoric Boogie Wonderland.
Most groups would save such a landmark song to last but E,W&F just shake a leg and take audience expectation in their stride.
In retrospect, it might have been a good idea to open with one of their lesser hits. Some issues with the mics and the sound system meant it was tricky to pick up lead singer Philip Bailey’s voice and what we did hear didn’t sound great.
For fans of E,W&F, it was like coming across your old girlfriend and facing the realisation that the magic may well and truly have died.
Fortunately matters were swiftly resolved with a rousing Jupiter. And from then on, the audience was pretty much transported to Party Central.
There was a lot of love in the house, but that’s what E,W&F have always been about.
Of the original core of the band, just three remain. Bailey, Ralph Johnson and Verdine White actually hopped aboard the mothership a couple of years after E,W&F were founded in 1969 but they remain indelibly identified with the polished outfit that spawned its own iconography – quasi mysticism, outlandish stage gear, huge hair – and a timeless back catalogue of sublime soul funk, attuned to a pop sensibility.
The 1hr 30min show represented a life-enhancing greatest hits workout. That’s The Way of the World, Shining Star and Reasons showcased the light and sexual grind of a consummate dance/ballad outfit.
The original triumvirate were audaciously supported by the tight, extraordinary talented musicianship that provided the aural backdrop for their 70s and 80s’ heyday.
Big, blousy funky horns, slick guitar licks and heart-pound percussion remain the band’s trademark. At one point, Bailey and Johnson traded runs of bongoes and mini-drums. In other hands, it would have been self-indulgent. Here, it was a matter of soulful banter.
Bailey’s voice remains a treasure of soul pop, soaring to ear-splitting falsetto levels in the latter half of the show.
Women, and several men, went weak at the knees when he did a crooning take on The Stylistics’ Betcha By Golly Wow. Weak knees went to mush when Bailey went centre stage for After The Love Has Gone, while White, Johnson and backing singers took to stools for some old school harmonies.
The show closed out with In The Stone, from 1979’s essential I Am album, E,W&F’s exuberant re-working of The Beatles’ Got To Get You Into My Life, Fantasy, September and Let’s Groove.
Bailey, Johnson and White left the stage, towelled down, prepared to head to London’s O2 Arena and left the young kids to finish out the last couple of minutes.
With the trio pushing 60, they deserved a breather.
But their motto has always been: Tomorrow we may die, so let’s groove tonight.
