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Carole King concert review
DAYTON — Part black-tie benefit gala, part campfire sing-along, the Carole King performance Monday night, Sept. 22, at the Schuster Center left the nearly sold out audience smiling — and humming their way home — by concert’s end.
The occasion was the 20th anniversary Heart to Heart concert to benefit Kettering Medical Center’s Cardiac Services. A black-tie dinner for about 800, which concluded immediately before the show, accounted for the fancy attire among the near-capacity crowd of about 2,300. The sing-along part came later.
Following a brief introductory film about the local Heart to Heart event, its sponsors and purpose, the evening’s guest artist walked onto the Schuster stage without introduction or fan fare.
But she didn’t really need any. The audience knew this petite, curly-haired woman well — if not personally, nevertheless on a certain intimate level, where her music remains a powerful voice in the soundtrack of our youth.
I can be counted among those who wore out her copy of King’s breakthrough — and ground-breaking — “Tapestry” album, released in 1971.
And while she never played that record’s title track Monday evening, she eventually performed most of the songs off the touchstone release, including her opening number, “Beautiful.”
It starts: “You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face, and show the world all the love in your heart.” And concludes: “You’re gonna find, yes you will/ That you’re beautiful as you feel.”
If so, then King must be feeling great, because she looked simply fabulous. The blonde hair has turned silver, but her well-toned figure, attired to perfection in a little black dress and strappy silver heels, belied her concurrent status as a 66-year-old grandmother.
She sounded fabulous, too. Her distinctive voice carried through the hall with a fullness and force that her reputation gave no cause to expect. And her piano playing, with its touch of boogie-woogie and frequent three-note-chord bass harmonies had its own energy and vibrancy.
King’s piano style is almost as distinctive as her voice, and fans often recognized a hit song within a couple of introductory chords.
With the stage set up to look like a comfortable living room, a reprise of her 2005-06 Living Room Tour, King performed an abbreviated retrospective of her prolific career, including a medley of songs co-written (with former husband Gerry Goffin), and recorded by others in the 1960s: “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “One Fine Day,” “Up on the Roof,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” among others.
The sing-along began early, as the pull of the familiar lyrics became too inviting for the audience. An enthusiastic and upbeat King welcomed the outpouring, encouraging the group participation as the evening progressed.
The set included heartfelt renditions of “So Far Away,” “It’s Too Late,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “I Feel the Earth Move” and “You’ve Got A Friend.”
King also turned the spotlight on her musical collaborators, Nashville-based songwriter Gary Burr, who accompanied King on acoustic guitar, bass and vocal harmonies; and longtime sideman Rudy Guess on electric guitar and backup vocals. Burr sang lead on two of his own compositions: “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely,” recorded by Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera; and “Love’s Been a Little Bit Hard on Me,” recorded by Juice Newton.
While Guess struggled with some equipment problems, King apologized for the technical difficulties, add-libbing that Dayton hospitals — meaning Kettering Medical Center, the evening’s beneficiary — never experienced technical difficulties.
Which, of course, left the black-tied hospital crowd smiling all the more.
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Comments
By Cyn
September 23, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Great concert! She is simply amazing!! Hearing the audience sing the chorus on a few songs (she just simply stopped singing and they took up where she left off) was really nice. All the excitement was going on in the “cheap seats” of course!By null
September 23, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
Last nights concert was truely an evening to remember. Carol King was amazing, to say the least & her voice even better. I took my Aunt, which could not of been a better choice. She knew more of the words to the songs than I did, but considering she was one of the people in my life who used to play her albums when I was a kid, I guess she should know them! Walking out of the show she turned to me and said she never thought in a million years that she would be seeing some her all time favorite songs performe live, which without saying, topped off the night to complete perfection! Thanks for a great show, Ms King,and to you, Aunt Vickie, you both gave me a life long memory.By linda
September 24, 2008 8:10 AM | Link to this
as one of the event’s volunteer organizers, i can’t tell you how thrilled we were to have carole king live at the schuster.her people were great to work with and she really came through with a wonderful concert. as a 67 year-old grandmother, i say rock on!!By Tapester
September 24, 2008 8:32 AM | Link to this
What a wonderful wonderful event. Carol captured the feeling of what was a great evening - and Linda, my sincere thanks and a hearty way-to-go! for organizing it. This goes down as one of my favorite evenings ever.