Love For The Holidays

December 22, Darlene Love brought her annual "Love For The Holidays" concert to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC).  Love brought with her 3 special guests for the show: Mary Wilson of The Supremes, gospel legend Cissy Houston & Ahsan-Stevie Wonder's protege.

A 12 piece band and 14 background singers backed up Darlene as she performed her notable Christmas songs along with her hits, all the while interacting with the audience, telling stories about her life and songs.


Mary Wilson appeared during the first set and performed "I Am Changing" from the Broadway musical "Dreamgirls"along with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".  Love closed the first set with "All Alone on Christmas" from "Home Alone 2".

The second set started with Love's four featured background singers performing "Joy To The World", with Darlene appearing afterward in a white robe, sneakers and her hair pulled back.  She said the secret to her being healthy at 71 years old was getting up at 3am with her husband, driving to Connecticut and do kick boxing which she demonstrated with some of the younger kids (called The Lady Bugs) from her class.

Darlene introduced Cissy Houston by talking about touring with Dionne Warwick and being friends with the late, great Whitney Houston singing one of Whitney's favorites, "Jesus Loves Me", a capella.  Cissy walked out onto the stage, with the help of a gentleman and a can, sat down on the stool center stage and said "I don't know how Darlene expects me to sing after that."  Cissy found a way though and performed a heartfelt version of "O Holy Night" that had the audience in tears, applauding and on their feet by the end of the song.


Love re-emerged and performed some of her best known classics from the 60's along with "I Know Where I've Been" from the musical "Hairspray" before introducing a young up and coming artist named Ahsan, Stevie Wonder's protege.  He performed the Donny Hathaway classic, "This Christmas" and "White Christmas" with Darlene.

To wrap up the show, Love performed her first number one record-"He's a Rebel" (which was credited to The Crystals) and ended the evening "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)".  Love has performed the song annually for the last 26 years on "Late Night With David Letterman" and has become her most recognizable song.  

Side note-This was my first time seeing Darlene Love and it was a great experience.  She put on a fantastic show and I plan on seeing her again in a few weeks when she comes to Maryland with her sister, Edna Wright of Honey Cone ("Want Ads" was their big hit).  This also marked my 10th time seeing Mary Wilson and she sounded better than ever.  She took her time with the 2 songs she did and really let her voice shine with the acoustics in the beautiful NJPAC added more depth.  Cissy Houston was just incredible.  I've seen Dionne Warwick a few times and never saw Whitney Houston sadly, so getting to see her mom perform was a great experience.  Ahsan has a nice voice, great personality and will definitely continue to grow as a performer.


---SET LIST---
SET 1
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Go Tell It On The Mountain
Ain't That Peculiar
You're All I Need To Get By
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
What's Going On
Killing Me Softly
Where Is The Love
Soul & Inspiration
I Am Changing (Mary Wilson)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Mary Wilson)
All Alone on Christmas


SET 2
Joy To The World (background singers)
Darlene and "The Lady Bugs" Kick Box (to "Blame It On The Boogie")
Who's Gonna Carry You
Jesus Loves Me (a capella)
O Holy Night (Cissy Houston)
Wait Til My Bobby Comes Home
Da Doo Ron Ron
Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry
I Know Where I've Been
This Christmas (Ahsan )
White Christmas (Darlene w/Ahsan)
Too Marvelous
He's a Rebel
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

 

Thought I'd include a picture of me after the show at one of the many Christmas trees inside the NJPAC.