In a move that couldn’t be more perfectly orchestrated, The Sounds Of The Supremes begin their performance with a cover of You Keep Me Hanging' On. Sure, the guitar riff is full of tension and makes for an exciting entrance song for Kaaren Ragland, Kathy Merrick, and Althea Burkhalter, however in this context, the lyrics of the song are so charged with irony that it seems like the work of a brilliant satirist. “Set me free why don't cha babe,” the group sing, “You just keep me hangin' on.” Of course, the subversion is completely unintended, although it’s hard not to hear those lyrics as a cry for help – not from a jilted lover, but from the music itself.
The politics behind the group’s name is complicated. While Ragland mentions that her first tour of Australia with The Supremes was way back in 1978, she fails to mention that was the first year she toured with the group at all, one year after the departure of the sole original member of the group. However, as Motown Records is the sole owner of the rights to the group’s name, we are presented this afternoon with The Sounds Of The Supremes, who apparently have the label’s official endorsement.
Given the original group’s fraught history, and that none of its members perform under the name, songs You Keep Me Hangin' On and Someday We’ll Be Together – the final song attributed to Diana Ross & The Supremes, recorded and released in 1969, which features neither of the other two group members – play here as serendipitous metacommentary about the machinations of the music industry, nostalgia and the existence of concerts like these.
Unfortunately, this is the most interesting aspect of some of the performances this afternoon. Unless you’re the type of person who enjoys listening to a version of Where Did Our Love Go that’s performed by none of the original singers or songwriters, and is complemented by garishly-electronic handclaps, there’s little to be excited about.
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But perhaps this is unfair – the music is what’s drawn the crowd here today, and judging from the demographics, it seems possible that many audience members here actually possess real memories of this music in their life, beyond the faint sense of familiarity that comes from hearing it in supermarkets.
Thankfully, the music itself is some of the most timeless of its era. Thinking Of You by Sister Sledge is an evergreen classic, itself a song about music’s timelessness (“fully equipped with a lifetime guarantee”), and it flies to heavenly heights thanks to Debbie Sledge’s angelic singing. We Are Family is somewhat bittersweet considering the recent passing of Joni Sledge (“I’ve got all my sisters with me”), but Debbie is surrounded by family on stage, sharing it with her sister Kim, as well as Joni’s son, Thaddeus Everett Whyte IV, on back-up vocals. Their performance is a reassuring and refreshing highlight of the afternoon, and it’s a shame they’ve only been allocated this half-hour timeslot.
If there’s a group that surely deserves no more than half an hour on stage, it’s Village People. While they’re entertaining performers with their costumes and choreography, their musical shtick quickly grows old. Original member and co-founder Victor Willis strolls in front of the five moustachioed replacements in a police officer’s motorcycle helmet and uniform, more than competently leading the group through a series of their most popular hits while they provide manly back-up vocals and accompanying dance moves: Macho Man (thrusting), San Francisco (You've Got Me) (gyrating), and In Hollywood (Everybody Is A Star) (jiggling). The shirts come off, the shirts go back on, the music continues.
The group’s most successful songs remain their most strikingly ambiguous; Willis prefaces In The Navy with the acknowledgement that “they’ve got ladies in the navy now, too”, before Chad Freeman (cowboy) delivers the most controversial piece of information we’ve heard today: apparently the correct way to dance the YMCA involves moving one’s arms to the left to form the letter ‘C’, inverting the consonant. This band is just full of surprises.
Hilariously, Nutbush City Limits plays over the PA for all of 30 seconds once Village People have left the stage, before someone quickly turns it off (lest there be more dancing!) and bafflingly replaces it with more of the least-groovy, middle-of-the-road retro hits that we’ve been hearing between performances. It sets a restrained and staid atmosphere, and is a striking departure from the music everyone is here to enjoy.
Speaking of which, The Pointer Sisters are responsible for some of the most exuberant mid-'80s pop music ever laid to tape. Original member Ruth Pointer wears a fringed red jumpsuit, and while her dancing is minimal these days, she is joined by her daughter, Issa Pointer, and her granddaughter, Sadako Pointer, who bring a more youthful energy to the performance in matching flapper dressers. They alternate between slow songs (Happiness, Slow Hand, Fire) and fast songs (I’m So Excited, Jump (For My Love), Neutron Dance), and the formula proves effective, as it hardly seems like time has passed before they’re walking back on stage for their encore and offering generous thanks not just to the audience, but to an exhaustive list of staff that includes their stylist, stage manager, and sound technician. Then they sing Neutron Dance again. Show business!
It’s perhaps easy to mistakenly think that Kool & The Gang is a misnomer. However, with a dozen band members on stage, the group have enough to form a small government (some of them are in fact very small – this may or may not be important information). Former lead singer James “JT” Taylor departed the band decades ago, and has been replaced by Shawn McQuiller and Walt Anderson, who share vocal duties competently, although Anderson’s youthful sensibility seems out of place as he dances lithely among the aged veterans.
It’s thrilling to hear the horn section, featuring original members Michael Ray and Ronald Bell, play some of the most iconic blasts of brass in funk and soul music on songs like Jungle Boogie and Get Down On It. Nevertheless, while those songs are stone cold classics, some of the band’s other material feels less compelling. They wave goodbye while a recording of their more recent work, Anderson’s Sexy (Where’d You Get Yours), plays over the system, its over-compressed bass line steamrollering through the speakers.
The Jacksons have been treated like headliners this evening, with the previous bands hyping up their appearance later in the night (“Are you ready for the Jacksons?” Kool & The Gang repeat during the final minutes of Celebration). However, when they arrive with a video montage completed with pre-recorded applause, it’s hard not to feel that the band are trying to maintain an artificial and unrealistic level of excitement from the relatively small crowd at the Sandstone Point Hotel.
Despite this, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, and Marlon Jackson enthusiastically perform songs by The Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson while the image of their late brother mimes the lyrics on the screen behind them; it’s a ghostly sight that’s somewhat uncomfortable. There is no mention of Michael throughout the performance, although the shadow of his figure literally looms over his siblings.
The songs are some of the most popular and successful ever written – especially Michael’s ones – and the brothers do a serviceable job performing these hits 50 years after some of them were originally recorded. Jermaine sounds the best, and Tito is ever silent behind his guitar, although the group’s dance moves are tightly synchronised with the entertaining choreography they’re famous for.
The band speed through a medley of their earlier work, jamming I Want You Back, ABC, and The Love You Save into a few short minutes. I’ll Be There is a sentimental highlight, as the crowd sways their arms in unison, and the five younger musicians supporting the band perform impressive solos during Can’t Let Her Get Away. However, the horn sounds all come from a MIDI synth, which somewhat increases the feeling of artificiality about this performance. The brothers take their leave after an extended version of Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) and applause from the audience is thunderous... until the pre-recorded crowd noise cuts out for a second, and we hear a fainter sound.
