Live: Lionel Richie

Leconfield Wines - Sun Apr 3
Lionel Richie has played many parts over his 40 years in the music industry: the suave frontman of ‘70s groovers The Commodores, Michael Jackson’s co-writer on We Are The World, the predator teacher from the Hello video and father-in-law to Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden, the husband of his adopted daughter Nicole. On this evening in McLaren Vale, Richie closes the A Day On The Green season with his most comfortable guise: a peerless, consummate live performer treating fans to a litany of hits.

    Before the main attraction arrives, fellow Afro aficionado Guy Sebastian puts on a fine performance in front of his hometown crowd. Performing in front of friends and his Golden Grove family, Sebastian expertly navigates his way through his own hits such as Out With My Baby and Like It Like That as well as serviceable covers of Amazing Grace and Knock On Wood. Whether knocking his debut music video Angels Brought Me Here (“The girl was meant to be an angel but my friends thought she looked like a chicken,” Guy suggests before playing his Australian Idol hit. “Please don’t visualise the fat kid with an Afro.”) or making a play for the title of the Aussie Justin Timberlake, Sebastian proves a confident yet enjoyably self-effacing character with excellent stage presence.

    His Afro no longer matches the scale of his ‘do during his time fronting The Commodores, but Lionel Richie’s dynamic smile remains enormous. Upping the regular A Day On The Green production backline with a huge video screen, Richie lights up the stage with perpetual motion and amusing patter. “I scared myself with that one,” he jokes as he knocks off another sustained note during Easy, easing the crowd into 90 minutes of familiar songs.

    “I have songs for when you’ve fallen in love with your partner, songs for when you’re engaged, songs for when you get married, songs for when you’ve had children and songs for when you never want to see them again,” Richie remarks. “I was there for all of them!”

    Alternating between a grand piano for slow numbers such as Still and Endless Love and bouncing around the stage, his constant movement could be a result of the cold April wind blowing across the vineyards. “I look down at these faces in the audience and wonder how are they able to survive this Arctic breeze,” Richie remarks, “yet they all seem happy!”

    A better behaved crowd than other ADOTG events this season, the Richie fans are kept in thrall by songs such as Running With The Night, Stuck On You and Say You, Say Me. Prefaced by a snippet of Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) and an epilogue of Van Halen’s Jump, 1986’s ridiculously silly and equally catchy Dancing On The Ceiling is backed by a vibrant video wall of scrolling words and colours – it’s like Zoo TV for the sauvignon set.

    Promising a return next year during his playful interactions with the audience, Richie finishes off the show with The Commodores’ ode to the perfect woman’s measurements, Brick House, 1984’s cult favourite Hello and upbeat closer All Night Long (All Night) featuring Guy Sebastian.

    This old Commodore might have plenty of miles on the clock, but after four decades Lionel Richie still can’t slow down.

Words & Pic: Scott McLennan

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