To culminate their inaugural Family Reunion Weekend, Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club celebrated those making a difference in the community – and called on two of the biggest names in R&B to sing the stage down at The Fox Theatre Saturday night.
For the first portion of the Martin L. Mathews Awards Program & Benefit Concert, nearly a dozen of awards were given to those actively contributing to making St. Louis a better place through a host of roles both within and beyond Mathews-Dickey. Immediately after the short program, it was time to party with El DeBarge and Chaka Khan –talented performers with respective musical legacies that have spanned generations.
Last night’s show didn’t find DeBarge or Khan in their absolute finest form, but undeniable natural gifts and veteran showmanship left audiences satisfied and closed out the Mathews-Dickey weekend of festivities on a high note.
El DeBarge got the concert portion started. Although his opening music was from his 2010 comeback hit “Lay With You,” he instantly wowed the audience with his signature falsetto and a stripped down version of the DeBarge hit “Love Me In a Special Way” where he provided his own keyboard accompaniment.
His voice was as pure as it ever was, but DeBarge was a bit off sync from his typically seamlessly performed stage act that seems plucked from the height of his fame. He still forged ahead with “Stay With Me,” the song famously sampled by Notorious B.I.G. for his breakthrough hit “One More Chance” – which DeBarge gave an extended nod to during his performance. After singing “All This Love,” “Ways of Love” and “Time Will Reveal” he took a diversion from his typical flow of DeBarge hits to perform a snippet of The Commodores “Brick House” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.”
His emotions got the better of him to the point where he couldn’t carry on with selections from Switch, the R&B band that featured his brother Bobby DeBarge on lead vocals. The show took place less than two weeks after the 21st anniversary of Bobby’s death, but El never offered explanation of his breakdown other than to say “I love you Bobby” after paying tribute to his late brother’s angelic first tenor range via “I Call Your Name” and “There’ll Never Be.”
Fans seemed touched by the tender moment – which he quickly moved on from for his “Rhythm of the Night” finale.
Khan was charged with closing out the night and she started her portion of the show with the 1979 Rufus hit “Do You Love What You Feel.” She came out the gate showcasing the powerhouse vocals that set her apart from other singers when she burst on the scene four decades ago as the funk band’s lead singer.
Khan is in a category all her own, and she offered a glimpse of that over the course of the hour-long show. Her set was a vast improvement over her last visit to St. Louis two years ago. Fans were thrilled with her mere presence – so the fact that she able to exceed expectations as far as delivering the powerful notes that put her on the map had them over the moon. However, she fought through kinks that are par for the course when it comes to the process of getting back in the rhythm of performing a full-length show.
Her selections spanned three decades and gave equal attention to Rufus and her subsequent solo career. She carried the audience through three decades thanks to hits like “I Feel For You,” “I’m A Woman,” “Love Me Still” “Earth Song” and “You’ve Got The Love” and her rendition of “My Funny Valentine” from the “Waiting to Exhale” soundtrack.
An ill-fated duet of “What ‘Cha Gonna Do For Me” with DeBarge was a low point of the show because DeBarge didn’t know the song. For the house full of diehard fans, the hiccup was just a smudge on a show that ultimately saw the audience transform into a mass choir that carelessly crooned along with Khan for “Tell Me Something Good, (which featured an impromptu solo performance by Arts Advocate of the Year honoree Marty K. Casey)” “I’m Every Woman” and the “Ain’t Nobody” encore.
