Showgoers at MotorCity Casino on Saturday night heard Aretha Franklin span styles -- gospel, R&B, jazz, power pop -- from a half-century career.
The Sound Board audience heard her first public performance since medical care last summer for an undisclosed reason, Susan Whitall reports in a Detroit News review.
Dressed in a long white knit gown with silver-spangled straps, Franklin came out smoking on the high-energy Jackie Wilson song “Higher and Higher.”
She segued to some smooth, contemporary R&B from the ‘90s . . . and some of her own lyrical compositions from her Atlantic days. . . .
She sounded especially good on “I Will Always Love You,” Whitney Houston’s signature song. . . . Franklin [later] sat down at the piano to play Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me.”
"I'm here," Aretha Franklin says on stage Saturday night. (File photo by Matthew Jordan Smith)
Franklin's diverse set list also included:
- “It Hurts Like Hell”
- “Chain of Fools”
- “I’ve Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)”
- "Call Me"
- "Daydreaming"
- "Amazing Grace"
- "He'll Do It Again"
Franklin's last local show was Aug. 25, 2011 at DTE Music Theater in Clarkston. She canceled dates there last June and again July 27 because of medical treatments.
With that background as context, Whitall describes a meaningful aside from the stage:
Between songs, the Queen of Soul took a moment to look out at the audience and smile. “I’m here!” she said, understated, but triumphant. After such a long break, that’s reason to celebrate.
-- Alan Stamm
