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introGerry Weber Stadion, Halle (Westfalen), Germany
9th October 2012
Lionel Richie & Oceana

LIONEL RICHIE today is known as the king of ballads, having loads of hits under his belts. It all started many years back with THE COMMODORES maintaining more of a funky and danceable sound. But with time Richie's interest turned to the romantic, emotional type of songs which surely helped his eponymous solo debut getting the status it achieved and established a reputation that lasts until the present day, decades later and with success having multiplied a hundredfold at least. His latest milestone is the release of 'Tuskegee', an album featuring only reinterpretations of previously released songs in cooperation with various guest artists. 'Tuskegee' also is the reason for him to return to the stages of the world and especially Germany where he was last seen live three years ago. The show in Halle (Westfalen) was not totally sold-out, but it was about 5.500 people showing up to see this special show which was opened by OCEANA.

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Oceana

Her hit ‘Endless Summer’ was not only the UEFA Euro 2012 hit, but also one of the summer hits this year. OCEANA was born in Hamburg but has French-Jamaican roots. With her mix of Rhythm and Soul she conquered the charts through whole Europe. Now, she and her band were supporting LIONEL RICHIE during his German shows. After so much chart success, expectations were quite high, but I must say they were not fulfilled and songs like ‘Amazing’, ‘Cry Cry’, ‘Put Your Gun Down’ or even ‘Endless Summer’ could not convince. Somehow, the performance was lacking some pep, the same moves and gestures were repeated over and over again. Also the lights were static whites, not delivering any variety. But well, people were here for LIONEL RICHIE anyway who would enter the stage soon. http://oceana-online.de / https://www.facebook.com/oceanaofficial

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Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie (born  1949) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. From 1968, he was a member of the musical group COMMODORES. Richie made his solo debut in 1982 with the album ‘Lionel Richie’ and number-one hit ‘Truly’. His latest album ‘Tuskegee’, named after his home town, was released in spring 2012 containing 14 of his international hits like ‘Endless Love’ or ‘Easy’ in new versions sung as duet. Musicians accompanying him on this album are i.e. Shania Twain, Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson. http://www.lionelrichie.com / https://www.facebook.com/LionelRichie

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Music & Performance
Lionel Richie is very important in modern pop culture, his songs influenced the sound track of generations all around the globe. With his show in Halle, the 80s were back, whereas lots of the old songs were presented in a new dress. The audience loved his show containing songs from his 30 years career, from the beginnings with his band THE COMMODORES to heartbreaking ballads of the eighties or catchy up-tempo songs of the nineties. And not only the setlist to come up had something special to offer, also the stage design was amazing. It was created by Baz Halpin who also worked for such artists as Tina Turner, P!NK, George Michael or Sade. There was a staircase grasping from one side of stage to the other, there were LED screens under the stair as well as in back of stage and on the side, ladder one showing live pictures later.

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The show started with an remix intro of ‘Hello’ and soon, a loud voices asked people to welcome Lionel Richie. And it was a loud welcome. Pleasing people first with ‘All around the World’ and ‘Penny Lover’, he afterwards welcomed the audience with kinda long speech, asking himself where he is since he was coming out of the tour bus and just saw lots of corn… Then he told that it would be a long set. At least as long as many songs he could remember. People screamed… but well, the setlist was created before the show anyway as you can guess… For following COMMODORES song ‘Easy’, Lionel took a seat behind a piano showing his musical talent. Throughout the whole show he presented himself as real entertainer, being very communicative and telling several stories along with the songs. He perfectly knew what his fans expected to hear during the show.

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When it was time for ‘Dancing on the Ceiling’, he asked people to get up from their seats and dance along. This song was surely one of the concert highlights, rewarded with huge applause. ‘Say You, Say Me’ was another one of the big hits conquering the charts and being accompanied with loud singing. At the end, ‘Hello’ was finally presented as real song and soon after it was time to say ‘Goodbye’, releasing happy people into the night.

Setlist
01. Intro Hello / Brazil (remix)
02. All Around the World
02. Penny Lover
03. Easy / My Love / Easy (Commodores song)
04. Ballerina Girl
05. Still (Commodores song)
06. Oh No
07. Stuck On You
08. Dancing on the Ceiling
09. Three Times a Lady (Commodores song)
10. You Are
11. Se La
12. Sail On (Commodores song)
13. Fancy Dancer / Sweet Love / Lady (You Bring Me Up) (Commodores song)
14. Endless Love
15. Brick House (Commodores song) / Fire (Ohio Players)
16. My Destiny
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17. Say You, Say Me
18. Running With the Night
19. Hello
20. All Night Long
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21. Goodbye

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10

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All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)


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