After seeing local heroes Shed Seven at the Museum Gardens in York last year I returned to the venue to witness the legend that is Nile Rodgers and Chic. I have seen Chic once before, but that was back in 1979! Was Nile on good form? Read on to find out, I need to tell you about the support acts first! First up it was Durand Bernarr a Cleveland born singer songwriter and producer. He performs like a 21st century descendant of the late great Sylvester. There were shades of George Clinton in the funk fuelled harmonies. The song “Generous” had me thinking of Alexander O’Neal. But throughout his stunning performance I sensed an influence from Marvin Gaye and Bobby Womack. Durand is one of the finest purveyors of modern soul on the planet and has some awesome songs in his canon.
Next it was highly acclaimed soul singer and artist Jalen Ngonda. Perhaps not as entertaining as Durand Bernarr but he has an incredible voice reminiscent of Eddie Kendricks, Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind and Fire), Eddie Holman and Russell Thompkins Jr (Stylistics). Sometimes you could feel the ghost of Prince in his playing and singing too. It was a mostly uplifting set, but it perhaps dipped a little when Jalen took to the keyboard the first time which for me resulted in a stretch of over indulgent jazz vibes. But throughout the playing was impeccable. Later in the set Ngonda performed a deeply soulful take on Bacharach and David’s “The Look Of Love” the song that was a hit for Dusty Springfield in 1967.
Finally it was time for Nile Rodgers and Chic to take the stage. Opening with “Le Freak” it was a night of banger after banger after banger. Every Chic classic was included from “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” to “My Forbidden Lover”. There was even a great snippet of their 1982 hit “Soup For One”. Nile shared some great anecdotes about the stellar gang of artists that he has worked with over the years as his set created some Dad dance heaven moments, not just for me. There was also plenty of groups dancing around their handbags too. For those of us at a certain age (some might say old) it was glorious nostalgia. Sister Sledge’s Chic produced discography was represented with “We Are Family”, “Thinking Of You”, “He’s The Greatest Dancer” and “Lost In Music”. The latter received one of the best receptions of the night. The Grammy winning hit that Rodgers had with Beyonce, “Cuff It” went down well. The Daft Punk song “Get Lucky” was one of my favourites along with the lesser known classic “Spacer” originally a hit for French artist Sheila B Devotion in 1980. As expected there were a couple of Madonna songs, two from Diana Ross and a brace of David Bowie tracks from 1983. “Modern Love” was particularly good. He even played the Duran Duran hit “Notorious”, I would have preferred “Skin Trade”, but I guess you can’t win them all, right? Nile closed the showed with a mountainous “Good Times” including some great elements of “Chic Cheer” and “Rappers Delight”. The Sugarhill Gang lifted the main riff of what many consider the first rap hit from Chic’s “Good Times”. This was a magnificent set and my wife Catwoman (a.k.a. Catherine) said that this was the first headline show she had ever seen where she knew absolutely every song.
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