Lionel Richie, Chic and Leo Sayer keep the party in Adelaide’s Botanic Park going all night long

THERE may not have been a roof to raise — or even a ceiling to dance on, for that matter — but superstars Lionel Richie, Chic and Leo Sayer kept the party going All Night Long under a perfect starlit sky in Adelaide’s Botanic Park.

THERE may not have been a roof to raise — or even a ceiling to dance on, for that matter — but superstars Lionel Richie, Chic and Leo Sayer kept the party going All Night Long under a perfect starlit sky in Adelaide’s Botanic Park.

Dancing was the predominant lyrical theme of the night and, while Adelaide audiences can be notoriously slow to get to their feet, each act eventually succeeded at getting even the most reluctant onlookers to bust out some moves.

Lionel Richie Adelaide concert, Botanic Park. Picture: BERNARD HUMPHREYS

Chic — fronted by prolific writer, producer and guitarist Nile Rodgers, the sole surviving member of the group’s original 1970s line-up — arguably set the benchmark for the night with a non-stop mashup of disco classics.

The six-piece band and two female singers created a wall of sound that felt like it came from an ensemble twice its size, played and mixed to perfection. Rodgers’ distinctive funky guitar riffs nestled in over the rhythm section’s pulsating grooves, punctuated with joyous stabs of melody from the brass and keyboard players.

Singers Kimberly Davis and Folami Ankoanda-Thompson proved themselves the equal of any soul divas as Chic launched with a bang on Everybody Dance, flowing seamlessly into Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) and I Want Your Love.

Then Rodgers introduced a medley of hits he co-wrote or produced for other acts, starting with Diana Ross’s I’m Coming Out and Upside Down, Sister Sledge’s The Greatest Dancer (and, by default, Will Smith’s Getting’ Jiggy Wit It) and We Are Family, with much funk jamming in between.

Supporting act Chic with songwriting giant Nile Rodgers (left) hosts an onstage disco at Lionel Richie Adelaide concert, Botanic Park. Picture: BERNARD HUMPHREYS

Madonna’s Like a Virgin followed, then Daft Punk’s Get Lucky — yes, Rodgers is still producing hits today — which built from a slow, delicate ballad recognising his fortune in twice beating cancer, up into the more familiar, full-blown dance floor sensation.

Chic drummer Ralph Rolle took vocal duties on an authentic rendition of Bowie’s Let’s Dance before the band’s big finale funk workout with Le Freak and Good Times — the latter sampled on everything from The Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight to George Michael’s Wham Rap!

Richie also had a non-stop list of hits to get through, with the added bonus of a full light show and multiple giant video screen effects, but a dreadful sound mix did the US superstar no favours for the first few songs.

Spotlights scoured the stage as a rumbling noise built and the word “Hello” echoed out before Richie, sporting a red sequin jacket, took to the piano for his former band the Commodore’s big ballad Easy. He took some loose liberties with the phrasing, but much of the vocal was muddied and lost in the mix, especially when the full band kicked in.

Lionel Richie Adelaide concert, Botanic Park. Picture: BERNARD HUMPHREYS

The guitarist and bass player added a touch of heavy metal to Running With The Night but the sound problems continued through the lightweight ’80s pop of Penny Lover with Richie’s vocals often barely audible and no cohesion among the instruments.

It was all drum sound for the Sinatra-like ballad Truly, then all bass on the usually bright You Are. Finally, with Stuck on You, Richie’s vocal mic seemed to kick in and from then on, there was no looking back.

The Commodore’s Brick House was phat, funky and furious, complete with 1970s blaxploitation film style graphics on the big screens.

Three Times a Lady became a big singalong, leading into Sail On, Fancy Dancer and the Richie-penned, Kenny Rogers hit Lady, which was given more of a soul feel.

The crowd got to fill in for Ms Ross on a truncated version of the duet Endless Love, which flowed into more singalongs: My Destiny, Say You Say Me and the inevitable Hello, by which time the band was sounding awesome.

Dancing on the Ceiling saw the screens light up in a 1980s hyper-colour neon display, and the audience rose as one while Richie mashed in a few bars of Van Halen’s Jump.

There was time for one more singalong and a tribute to Richie’s recently fallen musical comrades as phones lit up for We Are The World, then a final party jam on an extended All Night Long.

Lionel Richie Adelaide concert, Botanic Park. Picture: BERNARD HUMPHREYS

It’s easy to forget just how many chart-topping hits UK singer-songwriter Leo Sayer had in Australia in the 1970s and ’80s but earlier in the evening he managed to cram more than a dozen of them all into his 50-minute opening set.

The biggest hurdle he and his airtight band had to face was performing to a half-empty front block of seats, where the VIPS who should have been occupying them were still busy getting sloshed in corporate tents.

Showman that he is, Sayer — with his trademark curly mop of hair and a red floral jacket to set off his otherwise white ensemble — reached out to those who filled the perimeters of the park, opening with the pounding disco rock of Thunder in My Heart.

Then came the constantly changing tempos, styles and clacking keyboards of the jazzy Train, the cheerful singalong of More Than I Can Say, the first of his many harmonica leads on Dancing The Night Away, the epic melodrama of Orchard Road, then scatting and yodelling that The Show Must Go On while shaking his arms and hair like a wild Muppet.

Leo Sayer opened for Chic and Lionel Richie at Adelaide’s Botanic Park.

He may sound more bluesy than in his younger years but Sayer is still in great voice and hits all the pure high notes over the honky-tonk piano and strumming guitar of One Man Band, gets more sultry and sophisticated with Moonlighting, urges us that he’s still Just A Boy, and goes into his trademark, quirky falsetto for You Make Me Feel Like Dancing … which the assembled audience duly did.

Just when you thought that might be it, Sayer continued his hit parade with the glorious ballad When I Need You, got the crowd rock’n’rolling with his cries of “You know I can’t dance” on Long Tall Glasses, before leaving us with the uplifting boogie of How Much Love.

Together, Sayer, Chic and Richie were the perfect disco hat-trick: a trifecta of chart-topping dance music legends.

Lionel Richie, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers, Leo Sayer

Botanic Park, Adelaide

April 7, 2018