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 Photo: Justin Ma
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Motown with the people who recorded some of the most sublime pop songs in history is downright exciting! As MC, the deep-voiced but inane Charles Davis of The Contours looks remarkably fit for someone singing since the ‘50s, a fact that’s only explained in a Wiki-fest during intermission, revealing him as a replacement Contour since the ‘80s. This is not an unusual occurrence, as it turns out.
Mary Wilson runs through The Supremes’ list of love songs in front of the assembled band. The songs are still pop at its stellar peak, and Wilson’s voice is ... okay, but she falls down in the charisma stakes, and after a few tracks you kinda wish we were listening to the recorded originals instead. Still, the crowd seem happy and it’s only going to get better from here, right?
The thing is, it doesn’t. The Miracles sing You Really Got A Hold On Me and Tracks Of My Tears with a technical proficiency – but there’s only one original Miracle left, and though Bobby Rogers’ arthritic dancing shows why he’s been moved up the back of the group, the fact he actually sang these songs makes him far more compelling to watch than younger, slicker versions.
The Temptations and The Four Tops both only have one original member left each, neither of them lead singer, so we hear classics like Get Ready, My Girl, Reach Out and I Can’t Help Myself sung by a bunch of people who didn’t sing them originally, yet the grey audience are loving it. The idea dawns that we’re not here to see a Motown tribute at all. Instead it’s a large-scale RSL covers show, full of tunes that the all-too-easily-appeased crowd recognise, but not a whiff of the first-hand insight into history that a music fan would expect. This also explains the presence of Jimmy Barnes (who screams I Heard It On The Grapevine, but at least injects some life back into the tired band), Ian Moss (whose blues guitar on Uptight are met with cries of “We want Jimmy!”) and most puzzlingly, Joan “One Of Us” Osborne, who exemplifies the routine karaoke feeling.
The stand-out is Martha Reeves, who is piss-takingly funny and the only original Motown performer whose chat doesn’t sound rehearsed. The band sound slow on Nowhere To Run and Dancing In The Street, but she brings spontaneity and joy to the show.
Everybody returns to pay tribute to MJ on I’ll Be There, and with real emotion on display, it’s a high note on which to end a heartbreakingly mundane evening. Next time, book the Kedron-Wavell.
SIMON TOPPER
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