WBLS brought it old school to Summerstage, Saturday afternoon for a four hour extravaganza featuring 4 r&b soul men and a beloved rap group from the 1980s. Possibly the busiest day of the season at Rumsey Playfield, the capacity is 5,000 but there must have been double that online trying to get it. Mostly women, mostly black, mostly there for the guys! WBLS is the home of a certain generation of soul fans: 1970s and 1980s and even 1990s charttoppers. Sunday afternoon, they wore their age with equal parts grace and fervor.
I arrived ten minutes early to the show and still managed to miss most of Kenny Lattimore's excellent set. Kenny has always hit me as a minor leaguer, never able to really cash in on an early 1990 success. But with his white slacks and straw hat, Kenny was a cool customer and he seemed lmore than capable at performing the job. Hiis affable soul at Summerstage made an immediate believer of me. For the last song, "For You", Kenny let her rip, holding the high note for an eternity. Grade: B+
Q Parker of 112 took a break from his still popular band to push his Autumn release solo album, The Manual. The set was a little loud, and somebody should have given the drummer a valium, there was an excrutiating segment when he stuck some poor woman in a chair and proceeded to sing to her. My opinion? This abuse of fans should stop NOW. Still the new songs, "Don't Stop My Loving" and first single "Yes" were excellent and a cover of The Dream's "1+1', perffection. – Grade: B
Christopher Williams on the other hand needs to relax himself. Still, getting introduced by Denzel Washington ("I'm just gonna say his first name") might do that to you. Williams was a big star in the 1990s, "Dreaming" went to # 1 in the Billboard R&B chart. His set was one hit after another plus a cover of "TKO Knockout". A good one. But the set went on too long and, really, did we have to meet his nephew? Williams has promised a new album but we've heard that before -Grade: B
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Salt N Pepa suffered a little from the same problem as Chris did. A little too chatty. And no Spinderella either. But that's about it. Pepa looks unbelievable for 47 years old, Salt has husband Gary and kids in tow and has been married 21 years. And the two are a force field who, along with two male dances, didn't stop for a second of the set. How long was the set? No idea, I lost track of time. We got all the hits and a grand finale with "Push It". It isn't that the band are performing medleys but rather that they are truncating and segueing songs. The effect is overwhelming but also diluting. Overwhelming because apparently 25 years in the biz and they are as great as they ever – Grade: A-
Eric Benet is a hunk and a manslut. As he put it before launching into "Chocolate Legs", "My two addictions are chocolate and women, but not in that order". he gets quite a few of both as well. The lady killer uses his falsetto to incredible ends, it is alike a seduction machine on songs like "Spend My Life With You", "Sometimes I Cry" and a powerful "Femininity" from the first album. But he was a bit laid back for this late in the show and especially after a career defining set by Salt N Pepa. Though he has two albums released in the past two years, Benet mostly kept to the tried and true. More's the pity. There was a steady stream to the exist and I joined them, 7 songs in – Grade: B+