Attending a concert the day before moving house may be insane to some, but that’s exactly what I did last Saturday. I left the chaotic mess of boxes in my apartment for a little music therapy at one of the Hunter Valley’s famous Day on the Green events. This time around I was treated to the musical stylings of Mahalia Barnes, Marcia Hines, and Lionel Richie.
Jimmy Barnes’ little girl Mahalia proved she’s all grown up with a killer set of original soul tunes and some classic covers. She’s got an amazing set of pipes, and injects such passion into her performance that it matters little whether you know the songs or not. Her closer of “Proud Mary” was every inch as good as Tina Turner’s.
Next up was Australian Idol judge and soul diva Marcia Hines. Miss Marcia’s been doing this for around thirty years, and it shows. She had us dancing in the aisles with disco standards like “Shake Your Groove Thing,” “Disco Inferno,” and her own smash hit “You.” We were also treated to some more reflective moments from her new album Life, including brilliant takes on “Everybody Hurts,” “No Ordinary Love” and “Get Here.”
While Marcia and Mahalia wowed us, it was clear that there was just one person the crowd was there to see. That man was Lionel Richie. He’s not the most handsome man in the world, but there’s something about him that had the females from 15 to 50 on their feet.
He got the business of the new single, “I Call It Love,” out of the way early, almost as if he knew why we were really there. Once that was done it was all vintage Lionel, from The Commodores to his solo smashes. In fact, there was so much Lionel wanted to play he shortened a few songs to ensure he could get through them all. Tunes like “Three Times a Lady,” “Stuck On You,” and “Easy” encouraged the appreciative crowd to participate in a raucous sing-a-long. Lionel loved this, and even invited the ladies in the crowd to join him for “Endless Love.” None of us were a patch on Diana Ross, but he didn’t seem to mind. And no one was could sit down when he treated us to tracks like “Brick House,” “Dancin’ On the Ceiling” and “All Night Long.”
Lionel didn’t quite play all night long, but he came close. It was very late when I arrived home, and everything in me protested when we had to rise early to work with the movers at 7 am. But I don’t regret a thing. Lionel, Marcia, and Mahalia gave me a welcome break from the stressful business of moving, and for that I’m incredibly grateful.