{"id":14811,"date":"2012-12-24T16:31:11","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T21:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/?p=14811"},"modified":"2013-04-05T16:49:04","modified_gmt":"2013-04-05T20:49:04","slug":"darlene-love-and-friends-played-nj-performing-arts-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/?p=14811","title":{"rendered":"Darlene Love and friends played NJ Performing Arts Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

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You might know Darlene Love<\/strong> as one of Phil Spector\u2019s<\/em> artists from the 1960s performing in a girl group called The Crystals<\/strong> or you might know Darlene when she provided backup vocals to Elvis<\/em>, Aretha Franklin<\/em>, Frank Sinatra<\/em>, Dionne Warwick<\/em>, Sam Cooke<\/em>, The Beach Boys<\/em>, and many others! Hell – some of you might even know Love as she played Danny Glover\u2019s wife in all four of the Lethal Weapon<\/em> movies! To this day, she continues to bless us with her voice as she remains relevant to her old and new fans alike! She also has been performing her signature christmas tune \u201cChristmas – (Baby Please Come Home)<\/strong>\u201d on the David Letterman Show<\/em> on the last episode right before Christmas for the last 26 years!<\/p>\n

(Darlene Love<\/strong>)
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We had the pleasure to attend Darlene Love and friends<\/strong> annual Christmas Show at the NJ Performing Arts Center<\/em> in downtown Newark last Saturday! And friends included powerhouse vocalists, Mary Wilson<\/strong> (one of the original Supremes) and Cissy Houston<\/strong> (Whitney Houston\u2019s mom)! It was definitely one of the best live concerts that I attended in 2012. The show was so inspirational, uplifting, and fun especially when being performed within the confines of the beautiful and classy NJPAC structure which also holds a very distinct & warm sound.<\/p>\n

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Besides the smattering of songs to celebrate Christmas cheer, Darlene Love<\/em> belted out some classic tunes such as He\u2019s a Rebel<\/strong>, Da Doo Run Run<\/strong>, Boy I\u2019m gonna marry<\/strong>, and I know where I\u2019ve been<\/strong> – a song from the Broadway hit – Hairspray<\/strong>! One of my favorite parts of Love\u2019s performance included the medley of songs she rattled off from Roberta Flack<\/em> and Bill Medley\/Righteous Brothers<\/em>! Her tribute to Marvin Gaye<\/em> also set the audience into a side to side mellow but groovy frenzy! Next, she introduced her friend who also appeared on the Shindig!<\/strong> musical show that aired on ABC-TV from 1964-1966 — Mary Wilson<\/strong>! Wilson dazzled us with her sparkly dress and powerful vocals! She proceeded to wow us with \u201cI am changing<\/strong>\u201d. Things got really emotional when Darlene Love sang a few bars from a hymn that Whitney Houston often performed- \u201cJesus Loves Me<\/strong>\u201d before introducing Cissy Houston<\/strong>, Whitney\u2019s Mom. Darlene and Cissy both recollected fond memories from when they worked for Dionne Warwick<\/em>. Cissy Houston then went on to perform a spine tingling-hair rising rendition of O\u2019Holy Night that got the audience up for an undisputed standing ovation at NJPAC! Cissy\u2019s vocals were powerful and crystal clear, worthy as a voice that preaches god\u2019s teachings with song. She hit the high notes such that it elevated the toupee from my skull! Their is no doubt where Whitney got her singing chops from. Houston\u2019s performance was definitely one of the highlights of the night! <\/p>\n

(Mary Wilson singing “I am changing”<\/strong>)
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(Cissy Houston preparing to sing “O’Holy Night”<\/strong>)
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All in all, the show was pound for pound one of the best collectives of powerhouse voices that I have seen in concert in a long while. Steven Van Zandt<\/em> was scheduled to be one of the special guests as well but I guess he couldn\u2019t make it. Darlene did sing a song that was written by Van Zandt – \u201cAll Alone on Christmas\u201d which she sometimes performs with the E-Street band on special occassions. But yeah – Darlene Love<\/em> + Cissy Houston<\/em> + Mary Wilson<\/em> – I won\u2019t forget this performance!<\/p>\n

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\n(Darlene Love in a robe explaining what she does at 5am every morning!<\/strong>)
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\n(Darlene Love shows us what she does at 5am — boxing-aerobics!<\/strong>)
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\n(They are moving to the groove of “Blame it on the Boogie” by the Jackson 5<\/strong>)
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\n(14 year old Ahsan performing “This Christmas”<\/strong>)
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\n(Darlene Love + Ahsan with White Christmas<\/strong>)
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Setlist<\/strong>
\nHark the Herald Angels sing<\/em>
\nAin\u2019t that peculiar<\/em> (Marvin Gaye)
\nYou\u2019re all I need to get by<\/em> (Marvin Gaye)
\nAin\u2019t no moutain high enough<\/em> (Marvin Gaye)
\nWhat\u2019s going on<\/em> (Marvin Gaye)<\/p>\n

killing me softly<\/em> (Roberta Flack)
\nwhere is the love<\/em> (Roberta Flack)
\nsoul and inspiration<\/em> (Righteous Brothers)<\/p>\n

Mary Wilson – I am changing <\/em><\/p>\n

Have yourself a merry little Christmas<\/em>
\nAll alone on Christmas<\/em>
\nJoy to the world<\/em> (Band only)<\/p>\n

Boxing Aerobics routine to – Blame it on the Boogie (Jackson 5)<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s gonna carry you<\/em>
\nJesus Loves Me<\/em> (Whitney Houston)<\/p>\n

Cissy Houston – O\u2019Holy Night<\/em><\/p>\n

(Classics)
\nWait till my Bobby gets home
\nDa Doo Run Run
\nBoy I\u2019m gonna marry<\/em>
\nI know where I\u2019ve been<\/em> (Hairspray)<\/p>\n

Ahsan – 14 year old Stevie Wonder prodigy
\nThis Christmas<\/em>
\nWhite Christmas<\/em> (duet with Darlene Love)<\/p>\n

Praise you<\/em>
\nHe\u2019s a rebel
\nChristmas Baby please come home<\/em>
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You might know Darlene Love as one of Phil Spector\u2019s artists from the 1960s performing in a girl group called The Crystals or you might know Darlene when she provided backup vocals to Elvis, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Sam Cooke, The Beach Boys, and many others! Hell – some of you might even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1893,8,180],"tags":[1805,1803,1806,2319,1804],"class_list":["post-14811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mrc","category-music","category-photos","tag-cissy-houston","tag-darlene-love","tag-mary-wilson","tag-music","tag-phil-spector"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14811"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16374,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14811\/revisions\/16374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetchocko.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}