DIONNE WARWICK | LIVE REVIEW
St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Wed 19 Sept
When Dionne Warwick came onstage you could feel the audience’s love, for she is the sound of a generation like The Beatles and Motown. In the sixth decade of her iconic career, she’s the second most charted female vocalist on Billboard (after Aretha Franklin) with 80 singles making the Top 100. The (New) Jersey gal from my home state still has the class and sass which came through only after some long pauses in her opening monologue (which did seem to go on).
When you have enough hits to fill New York’s Brill Building, how do you fit in all the fan favourites? Do snippets. We first had 19 classics, all but three by the team of composer Burt Bacharach and the late lyricist Hal David who wrote some of the greatest pop/easy listening standards of the 20th century. Anyone Who Had A Heart, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, Walk On By and others zoomed on by. Every time a new tune began, you wished she’d. break. out. into. the. whole. one – but no.
Wanting to do as many as possible is understandable, but to take a song like Make It Easy On Yourself for instance and reduce it to a few lines is rueful. I Say A Little Prayer – amen! – was saved from the chopping block and done in a wonderfully soulful vein with her older son, drummer David Elliott joining her on vocals. Warwick’s family has a prodigious musical lineage, and he’s no exception. What chops! Do You Know The Way To San Jose was given even more of a kicky Latin touch, and a particularly nice rendition of One Less Bell To Answer was done.
A medley of film music was performed, some originally done by Warwick and others – she opined, throwing shade – that she could and should have done. Most were penned by Bacharach and David again and included poignantly beautiful treats not much heard on UK radio – The April Fools and A House Is Not A Home, also André and Dory Previn’s (Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls. The 77-year-old got up from her stool to do a little samba dancing for Jobim’s Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado).
Singers naturally aren’t going to sound like they did 40, 20 or even 10 years ago. Her voice isn’t as it was, due to the passage of time and smoking. Yes, at times it cracked and the upper range wasn’t there but the distinctive phrasing, deep rich tone and texture are. She’s adjusted that uncommon voice, and just when you thought she couldn‘t hold those notes, she did. Always the best interpreter of Bacharach and David’s gorgeous songs, Warwick understands them like no one else. Only the late Dusty Springfield came close IMO (sorry Cilla fans).
Towards the end, we had complete songs to greedily absorb and were rewarded with the five-time Grammy winner showing she could reduce one to tears with the movingly resplendent 99 Miles From LA and I’ll Never Love This Way Again. Stretching out band introductions – where they were born, where they were living, where they wanted to retire – Warwick bought breathers, and one could hardly blame her almost two hours in, but you just wanted things to move along. Twenty-three-year-old singer Cheyenne came out and dueted with her grandmother, and they finished with What The World Needs Now Is Love and That’s What Friends Are For.
Yes, parts tonight went too quickly when they should have gone slower, and vice-versa, and often it’s not about technical perfection. Dionne Warwick still has the presence, style and uniqueness that autotune can’t bring. She’s a star.
words RHONDA LEE REALI photos GARETH GRIFFITHS
