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CONCERT REVIEW: Hey, Sister, Soul Sister: Patti LaBelle in concert at the Hard Rock |
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Written by JOAN CARTWRIGHT
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 Readers, we’ll have to call for a new award, “The Patti,” because there isn’t one befitting the Queen of Song, Patti LaBelle.
Some say she screams. I say she throws her voice like a boomerang and gets a kick out of hearing it come back, more than we do.
A fan named Peter brought her 50 roses, one for each show he’s attended, and he stood at the foot of the stage, limp like spaghetti as she sang, If Only You Knew to him during her Oct. 20 performance at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood.
She’s from Philly and she’s OK with Peter’s attentive pose in front of the stage. She tells security, who appears to be moving in on the infatuated fan, “Do not touch Peter or I’ll have to pimp slap you!”
She’s funny, cracking us up between songs that wipe us out. She changes high, high heels to sparkly pumps, after New Attitude, If You Ask Me To and an old standard, Let It Happen, recently recorded by Celine Dion, but written for French torch singer Edith Piaf, whose lover was killed on the way to see her.
She sings I Love You, On My Own and I Keep Forgetting, penned by Michael McDonald.
Flawless in a burgundy dress with crinoline underskirt, Patti flits across the stage like a girl. Her 63 years mean nothing, except when she asks for the fan because “I’m menopausal, hot, tired and taking insulin seven times a day for diabetes,” she says, wiping her brow.
You can’t believe she’s older than Beyonce, Mary J. Blige or Macy Gray. She’s skipping and jumping around, throwing kisses to the audience, and smiling into her looking glass, making us giggle.
Her crystal clear voice matches the harmonies of background singers, Debbie Ramsey, Anthony Williams and one other man whose name I didn’t get. They’re one, the four of them as the band, led by musical director John Stanley, jams from one memorable song to the next.
The audience is on its feet when Patti sings Reverend James Cleveland’s Walk Around Heaven All Day, dedicated to her three sisters who died before age 44, of cancer; her mother, father and other artists who have passed on – James Brown, Pavarotti and Luther Vandross.
She sings, “When I get to heaven, I will jump and shout. No one will be able to put me out!”
You believe her. You know there’ll be one huge party when Patti steps through the Pearly Gates.
“But,” she says, “I’m gonna stay right here, until I’m 163! I’m not going nowhere. I’m gonna be here to motivate you, to make you see that, when you wake up in the morning, you have another day to live and be happy! Don’t take that for granted.”
Well, I don’t know about anybody else, but I was depressed when I got to Patti’s concert at the Hard Rock Café in Hollywood. I wasn’t feeling good. But I was revived when she got through.
Bonnie Raitt wrote a song that really depresses me – I Can’t Make You Love Me (If You Don’t). I was in love with someone who wasn’t right. I hated that song on the radio because it brought truth to my ears.
Ms. Patti makes it a testimonial that those who don’t love you, when you love them, are missing out.
She makes it clear. “I get to the point that I don’t care,” she tells him. That’s what being a song stylist means.
 Then, she needs a rest. She walks over to the speaker at stage left and sits down, pulling her dress up, slightly, to tease the audience. Her show never stops. We love it!
A man walks up and hands her money. Some men in the audience shout, “Take the money, Patti!”
Counting it, she says, “It’s one thousand dollars,” while the man tells her that his mother died of diabetes. Elated, she walks across the stage, stuffing the cash into her bosom.
Then, she says, “I’m doing a benefit in Philly, on Thursday. I’ll give this money to the cause.”
She throws kisses to the man, who is returning to his seat. She yells, “Thank you!” to him.
The band breaks into a vamp as Patti kicks off the sparkly pumps, singing “whoa, whoa, whoa, the power of love!”
She picks up flat shoes from the top of the grand piano, puts them on and continues to bounce around the stage like a teenager. She’s introducing the band, praising their virtuosity. “I want you to meet my background singers who are always as good as the person they’re backing, but haven’t had a chance for stardom, yet.”
Debbie Ramsey is in the spotlight, singing I’m Going Home To Meet My God, the song that Ramsey sang at the going home service of Patti’s sister. Ramsey’s voice is robust and we’re electrified. Earlier in the show, Anthony Williams sang the duet, On My Own, which Patti recorded with Michael McDonald. Williams’ rich voice filled the hall, too.
At the end of this segment, Patti introduces her guitarist and bassist, bringing them out for a solo.
It’s time for her signature song, Lady Marmalade and the crowd is on its feet, again. Here’s where the fun begins. She calls to men brave enough to come onstage to dance and sing with her.
“But you better be able to sing. If you can’t, I’ll cut ya!”
We scream with delight.
Four men come up. She hands the phone to Michael, a white man, and says, “Sing!” He manages to get a couple of notes out. She says, “Can you dance?” He nods and starts steppin’. We’re saying, “Hey, he can dance!”
Next, is Dan, who takes the mike and sings to Patti, “I’m in love!”
She’s impressed and dances with him, hugs him and moves on to the brother we know is from the hood because he’s wearing jeans, a sports shirt and a cap. She tells him to sing, begs him to sing, but he just can’t. “I don’t know what to sing,” he cries.
“Can you dance?” she asks.
He says, “Yes,” and starts doing the butterfly. We are rolling.
She says, “Oh, you can dance. Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?” We roar!
Finally, a tall brother in a jacket with a scarf around his neck tells her he can definitely sing. Patti warns him that he better sing or she’ll cut him, cracking us up. He does sing. He shouts. He’s got her riffs down pat.
She’s satisfied and so are we.
“Voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? Creole Lady Marmelaaaaaade!”
Each man gets a hug as the fan blows Patti’s dress up in the Marilyn Monroe style.
“I’ve recorded so many songs over the past 30 years,” she announces [70 albums].
“This song, I’ll Stand By You is from the Pretenders. Carrie Underwood sang it, in 1994. I recorded it on Classical Moments [2005] and I dedicate it to our troops, whom we want to come home, safely.”
That’s it. She walks offstage. Of course, we know something is missing. She comes back with little fanfare because she knows what we are waiting for. In her unmistakable style, Patti LaBelle reminds us to remember to dream with Somewhere Over The Rainbow, the song that Judy Garland made famous, but Patti has made her own.
Then, it’s over. What are people saying as they leave the hall? “It was too short.”
That means we must see the Queen Diva the next time she graces the stage in South Florida or wherever we may be when she performs.
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Photos by Sayre Berman. Patti LaBelle
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