Concert Review: Smokey Robinson rocks Dallas for charity

 

 

 

Earlier in the evening, William "Smokey" Robinson made the audience a promise: "We're going to have a good time, get intimate, touch, feel and boogie." And charity event or not, that's exactly what the Motown architect and Hall Of Fame inductee delivered in his hour-and change set for the sold-out crowd of nearly 2,000 at LaunchAbility's 13th annual A Special Evening fundraiser (hosted by Alliance Data) in Dallas' Myerson Symphony Center on Monday Night. 

 

Perhaps because of the serious work that the local nonprofit achieves on a daily basis---helping special needs children and adults with self-reliance-focused programs and employment---some may have thought that the concert would be a stilted or stuffy affair, but the lauded superstar singer and songwriter quickly dashed those expectations. Dressed in a crisp white suit, the 74-year-old joined his six-piece band, pair of costumed lady dancers and launched right into "Being With You," earning shouts and screams of approval as he got within kissing distance of a female background vocalist and crooned a bilingual version of the chorus with her.

 

The youthful and still-strikingly handsome Robinson took listeners through a magical medley of his greatest hits, perusing through the enviable catalog for Miracles-era classics ("You Really Got A Hold On Me," "Tracks Of My Tears," "Tears Of A Clown," "Second That Emotion"), solo smashes ("Quiet Storm," "Just To See Her") and hits that he penned for another major Motown act, The Temptations ("My Girl," "The Way You Do The Things You Do"). Most of them were performed in a lower key than the originals, but Smokey's delivery was as agile and enthusiastic as ever. In fact given his provocative hip-swaying and expansive dance moves from one side of the stage to the next, it was hard to tell which was more limber, his body or his vocals. 

 

The performer's age and elegant demeanor didn't keep him from being silly and even downright sensual: if Robinson wasn't cracking up the crowd with humorous anecdotes about his 50+ years of Motown---"You used to be able to see the Motor Town Revue for $1.50...and catch a movie!" "Stevie [Wonder] wanted me to leave the party with him to help write the track, but he drives too fast. Now he texts too!"---he was sending the ladies into swoon mode with his cover of "Fly Me To The Moon" and reducing them into puddles with his trademark trill on the elaborate and borderline orgasmic version of Now and Then's bedroom ballad, "That Place."

 

Being a legend, at least in Smokey Robinson's case, is a lofty perch that he doesn't take for granted, especially since he was once the baby boy with a pair of older sisters who grew up loving music ("everything from gut-bucket blues to gospel that we played on 78s and 45s") from afar in Detroit. "People always ask me, even now,' 'What do you do whenever one of your songs comes on the radio?'" The icon mimicked with a chuckle. "And my answer's always the same: I turn it up! Anyone else who says, 'Oh, I'm so used to it by now' is lying."