Al Green Friday Aug. 27th, 2010. Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre, Ok, USA



What had been a summer of hell heat finally abated this week and as the sun set a nice cool breeze rolled in, a perfect night for a show and with a legendary performer that had eluded me for too long…hell, I lived in Memphis for 25 years and finally here he is, on the stage handing out roses to the crowd in Middle Earth. Al Green!

Driven by a 10 piece dream band of seasoned talent the Reverend Al Green had strolled onto the stage to a huge reception from a near capacity crowd at the Zoo. Green started with a fitting song for his message: “Love". His patented voice and style abilities were certainly preserved at the age of 64. He hit all the highs and lows during the whole set and maintained that distinct and classic sound he owns.

After “Love” he covered the Temptation’s “I Can’t Get next To You”. “ooooh…I”. He did a lot of covers but they may as well have been his all along. He certainly complemented them all. But what a band, a horn section, , a rhythm guitarist, percussions, and some very soulful singers (his daughters, Rubi, Kora and Alva) completing the R&B masters, this was a very tight band and very in tune with each other.

Into Sha la la and then Roy Orbison’s "Pretty Woman" interjecting some suggestions of being “squeezed”, and the Rev made sure he broke OKC code with “bullshit”, the Rev cursed in Oklahoma? Really? Then he sang some gospel song I’d never heard, soulful and cool tho~. After that he played “Amazing Grace”, then everyone rose when he sang the staple, “Let’s Stay Together.

In an unexpected and odd choice to me he did the Brothers Gibb song “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”. Nicely done and I almost like that song now. Then one I had hoped for the most he did: “Take Me to the River” and he did it more like the Talking Head’s version (that made a hit of it), it was hard driven and finely performed.

The Reverend and the band then did the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself” then spun into snippets of “My Girl”, “Bring it on Home”, “Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay”, Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World”, Bill Wither’s “ Lean on me” then even some Stylistics with “You Are Everything”.

Back to his stuff, he sang “Tired of Being Alone”, his voice like a horn at times and as I said he has not lost one bit of his abilities, still further proven on “Still in Love”, and both songs had the crowd grooving.

Then finally “Love and Happiness” and another song (I could not pin down…sorry). Great show, The Rev. Al Green was the middle act between Buddy Guy and BB King. This night I was home in Memphis…if only for a few hours I got that Beale Street feeling again.

Tour 2010:

http://pollstar.com/resultsArtist.as...te&SearchBy=al green

Artist’s Website:

http://www.algreenmusic.com/

Love Al Green....my favorite is Lets Stay Together, great song.