Playing The Legendary High Energy Hits!
By Gary Simmens
Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) took the stage with their 12 members and was high energy from the start. They came out swinging with major hits like “Feelings,” then “Sing A Song” and “Shining Star” for a fast start that got the crowd up and cheering quickly. The sold-out concert started 20 minutes late. The band played a solid 2 hours and 27 minutes without an opening act, so the crowd was pleased they got their money’s worth. The hits kept flowing and the concert seemed to fly by so fast, with the hits from “Getaway” to “Jupiter” to the popular “Serpentine Fire.” Next was “Evil,” featuring a bass solo from Verdine White, who smiles more than any other musician I have seen. You can tell he truly loves what he does. Phillip Bailey sang lead vocals on most of the hits. Bailey’s son is also in the band now, on percussion and background vocals. Phillip Bailey also played the kalimba, which is a small handheld African thumb piano, giving a unique sound which became central to much of EWF’s music over the years.
The soulful, funky, pop, R&B blend of success has kept EWF on the charts and hearts of millions for almost 5 decades now. Although EWF started in the early 70’s basically as jazz musicians, who played also soul, funk, gospel, blues,and jazzy styled rock and dance music, which somehow ended up becoming a great blended award-winning recipe for top-selling pop and rock ballads and fast-paced dance songs that were always lining the top of the charts as major hits.
EWF is now close to entering its 50th year of performing. Maurice White founded the band in the early 70’s. He was also the older brother of current Earth, Wind & Fire member Verdine White (the bass player), and former member Fred White. He served as the band’s main songwriter and record producer, and was co-lead singer along with Philip Bailey. Unfortunately, the beloved Maurice White passed away too soon from Parkinson’s disease at 74 years old on February 4, 2016.
Ralph Johnson, another former drummer and singer in the band, has spent the last decade doing a great job singing more and helping some on percussion. The current drummer is a young, talented, accomplished player named John Paris. He plays his large expanded beautiful custom DW set, and also sang the lead on one song and did background vocals throughout the set. The band has had numerous line-up changes over the last 20 years. Other current band members rounding out the current 12 piece group are: Verdine White playing bass, percussion, and vocals; Myron McKinley on keyboards; Philip Bailey, Jr. performing background vocals; B. David Whitworth on vocals, and percussion; Morris O’Connor on guitar and vocals: and finally Serg Dimitrijevic (originally from Russia) on guitar. Also, the great sounding horn section consists of Gary Bias on saxophone; Bobby Burns, Jr. on trumpet and french horn; and Reggie Young on trombone.
The whole band was incredible. The sound and stage presence was as excellent as it was back in the 80’s and 90’s. Some of the legendary groups lose a step and sound a little off as the get older, but this was not the case at all with EWF. The Beatles cover of “Got To Get You In My Life,” with a distinctive EWF arrangement that was a huge hit back in the 90’s, earned the biggest applause of the night by far. Other great hits keep flowing like “Can’t Hide Love,” “Way of the World,” and the classic love songs “After The Love Is Gone” and “Reasons,” which featured Phillip Bailey’s talented broad vocal range. The concert kept flowing quickly with such other hits of their 22 song set they played to perfection with hits like “Boogie Down,” “Let’s Groove Tonight”, and “September.” The encore performance song was their hit ” In The Stone.” The crowd left all smiling and content knowing they saw a quality legendary band that still performs as crisp as they did 20 years ago. If you can, catch the talented EWF playing the end of July with a shorter setlist, in New York as part of the event “The Classic East ” at Citi Field in Queens, NY on July 30 along with supergroups such as Journey and Fleetwood Mac.
The upcoming entertainment in the Mark Etess Theatre at Hard Rock Casino:
Lionel Richie on July 12-13
Mary J. Blige on July 20
Three Dog Night on July 25-26
The Beach Boys on July 27
