Old school music star Jeffrey Osborne brought the house down Friday night at Stifel Theatre with his pre-Mother’s Day concert that featured R&B veteran Will Downing.
A 76-year-old man who wore a black sharkskin suit made popular on “Miami Vice” and sang through a corded microphone Friday night at the Stifel Theatre managed to come for the necks of everyone’s favorite contemporary R&B live performers.
Music featuring Jeffrey Osborne hasn’t been anywhere near the top of Billboard charts since 1990. That didn’t matter for his pre-Mother’s Day concert. Old school music lovers, R&B aficionados and soul/funk connoisseurs came dressed to the nines and ready for a musical trip down memory lane. So much so that Osborne and featured guest Will Downing had the type of house an artist with a healthy mix of present-day hits would’ve been thrilled to achieve. The crowd showed up – and Osborne showed out.
A performance is good when concertgoers can be heard blasting music from the show through their speakers as they exit the parking lot. The show is epic if they are unapologetically singing the songs as they make their way to the car. “Every time I turn around…back in love again,” a woman belted as she and her date walked down Market Street. “Jeffrey tore that [s-word expletive] up, didn’t he baby?” Her companion replied. Indeed, he did. Osborne’s 75-minute performance was a lesson in showmanship and the art of a concert perfectly curated and fine-tuned for the fans – and a demonstration that age ain’t nothing but a number.
He started with the quiet storm mainstay “Love A Stranger,” surprising fans by performing his opening number from the middle of the crowd. His energy level made it impossible to believe that he is approaching his 55th year in the music business. “How many L.T.D. fans do we have in the house tonight,” Osborne said shortly before he removed his blazer to reveal his trademark form-fitting black muscle shirt. The crowd lost control.
“I started with L.T.D. in 1970.” He began with the band as a drummer. By the time he left to successfully pursue a solo career in 1981, he was L.T.D.’s lead singer. The voice that gifted the world with “Love Ballad” and “Where Did We Go Wrong” once sat at the back of the band, behind a hi-hat and a snare – which is even harder to imagine after the way he owned the stage for St. Louis fans. He was relentlessly intentional about making sure their concert experience was everything they could have ever hoped for – and more.
He talked to the crowd about his L.T.D. days – when he toured with the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire and The Commodores. Osborne paid tribute to his beloved late producer George Duke, an old-school music icon in his own right who gave Osborne some of his greatest solo hits. He made his way back into the crowd for a taste of Duke’s funk classic “Reach For It.”
“Old school music is better than new school music,” Osborne said as he shouted out a fan he spotted wearing one of his “Old School Music is the [s-word expletive] t-shirts. “New school music is just samples of old school music,” he exclaimed.
Osborne was speaking his truth. The brass boom with an accompanying bass slap that signals the end of Mark Ronson’s multi-platinum massive hit “Uptown Funk” (featuring Bruno Mars) – is a direct rip from the pre-chorus horn breaks on L.T.D.’s “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again.” The audience heard as much for themselves as they danced down the aisles when Osborne rightfully selected the tune as the concert’s final number.
With the exception of “Only Human” and “Where Did We Go Wrong,” Osborne sent them home with their hearts desires with respect to his catalog – including “Wings of Love,” “Holding On (When Love Is Gone),” “Concentrate On You,” “We Both Deserve Each Other’s Love” and more.
If it hadn’t been for the woman who went rogue during an audience participation segment, his show would have been utterly flawless. Instead of following the rules by singing “can you woo woo woo…,” she started with a convoluted back story. Osborne made up for the awkward moment with a diabolical jab at the woman’s expense after she finally got to the song. “Your story was better than your woo,” Osborne said. Fans – including the woman – erupted with laughter.
R&B veteran Will Downing set the tone perfectly as a featured performer. His portion of the show kicked off with his urban adult contemporary radio hit “A Million Ways,” and continued with wonderfully received covers of The Stylistics’ “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart),” Angela Bofill’s “I Try” and Atlantic Starr’s “Send For Me.”
“Nothing Has Ever Felt Like This,” (which Downing originally sang with Rachelle Ferrell) and the moment he yielded for the band and background singers to have a moment in the spotlight – which served up snippets of Michael Jackson’s “Working Day And Night,” Minnie Ripperton’s “Memory Lane” and The Doobie Brothers’ “Minute By Minute” – were favorite moments among the audience. As was Downing’s surprising finale. Of all the songs the crooner could have chosen, he went with “Apache” by The Sugar Hill Gang. The audience hopped out of their seats to perform the “jump on it” dance that typically accompanies the crowd pleasing hip hop classic.
