With The Queens Tour at Barclays Center featuring, in alphabetical order: Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, and Stephanie Mills, many, including me, wondered who would close the show with four women who have made music professionally for more than a century combined.
Perhaps it was the sampling of her “Through the Fire” by hip-hop superstar Kanye West for his debut single in 2003, “Through the Wire,” or the popular remakes of her hits “Sweet Thing” on Mary J. Blige’s 1992 debut album “What’s the 411?” and “I’m Every Woman” by Whitney Houston from “The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack” album, also released in 1992, but Khan was the closing act as the tour stopped at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. And she did not disappoint.
The 10-time Grammy winner performed those three classics and some of her other massive hits, including “Ain’t Nobody,” “Tell Me Something Good,” “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me,” “I Feel For You,” and “Do You Love What You Feel.”
“It’s so nice to be up here with all my girls, all my women in song, let’s have a hand for everyone,” Khan said to the crowd while greeting them, acknowledging the three legends who performed earlier.
Derrel Johnson photos
Gladys Knight, who celebrated her 81st birthday on May 28 and began her career with her siblings and other family members as Gladys Knight in the Pips, opened the evening in Brooklyn and performed several of her biggest hits, including “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye),” “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” and “Love Overboard.”
The seven-time Grammy winner, nicknamed the “Empress of Soul,” also performed “That’s What Friends Are For,” her collaboration with fellow icons Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder, and even took the crowd to church by performing the Donnie McClurkin classic “Stand.”
Patti LaBelle, who celebrated her 81st birthday the day of the Barclays Center tour stop, performed many of her biggest hits, including “Isn’t It a Shame,” “My Love, Sweet Love,” and “Love, Need, and Want You.” LaBelle, who began her career with Cindy Birdsong, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash in a group called LaBelle, was joined by one of her male background vocalists, Aaron Marcellus, who performed Michael McDonald’s verse for the duet “On My Own.”
The Philadelphia native left the stage for a wardrobe change and returned to close out her set with “Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is),” “If Only You Knew,” and “Lady Marmalade,” complete with crowd participation from men from the audience.
Brooklyn-native Stephanie Mills, the youngest woman on the tour at 68, performed between Knight and LaBelle and brought a lot of energy, powerhouse vocals, and hits to the stage. The Tony and Grammy winner performed “What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin’,” “(You’re Puttin’) a Rush on Me,” “Something in the Way You Make Me Feel,” “I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love,” “Never Knew Love Like This Before,” and perhaps the hit she is best known for, “Home.”
If you missed last weekend’s show or want to see it again, tickets are on sale for the tour’s second leg, which will stop at Newark’s Prudential Center on Thursday, September 25. Tickets are on sale now, as well as the final shows of the first leg in Chicago on May 30, Cincinnati on May 31, and Indianapolis on June 1. The second leg kicks off on September 19 in Greensboro, N.C., and will stop in Atlanta, Atlantic City, Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C, in addition to Newark.