my thoughts: if there was ever a perfect time for Lionel to reunite with the Commodores,this is it!! Imagine a reunited Commodores,playing all their funky 70s jams,on a tour with EW&F.....a whole night of classic jams from two of the biggest funk/R&B bands from the 70s!!

missed opportunity

SoulAlive said:

my thoughts: if there was ever a perfect time for Lionel to reunite with the Commodores,this is it!! Imagine a reunited Commodores,playing all their funky 70s jams,on a tour with EW&F.....a whole night of classic jams from two of the biggest funk/R&B bands from the 70s!!

missed opportunity

Oh wow, I would kill to see that

SoulAlive said:

RJOrion said:

It would have been nice if The Commodores breifly reunited in the 90's when Milan Williams (keyboardist) was still with us. That was a missed oppurtunity, because the :70's nostalgia" was big back then... Egos and drama got in the way of that...Sometimes big $$ can be a factor in bands reuniting. Lionel is super duper PAID in full, so he doesn't need Commodores "reuinion money". Plus I recently read that Walter "Clyde" Orange (drummer) recently retired. So I think that makes William King (trumpet/percussion) the only original member left in the group.

Lionel Richie(whom I ran into after hours in a highrise building near B.H.) seemed shocked that I recognized him. But he was VERY cordial. A week later I found out why he was there.

SoulAlive said:

RJOrion said:

They're the greatest band in recorded music history...but it breaks my heart to see EW&F with no Maurice White, no Al McKay, no Larry Dunn, no Andrew Woolfolk, no Fred White, no Don Myrick, no Johnny Graham...its just not the same at all...i cant do it

I feel the same way.As far as I’m concerned….no Maurice,no Earth Wind and Fire.I guess it’s cool that they’re keeping the music alive but it’s just not the same for me.Too many of the major elements are gone.

I'm with you guys. EWF is so far from being ...well...EWF that I'm not interested either. It's cool if they are enjoying performing but it's not even close to the 70s and 80s shows I attended. It KILLS me to be critical of my all time favorite group but I have to be honest.

SPYZFAN1 said:

SoulAlive said:

Yeah, I don't think William is a lead singer too (lol). There's a Commodores concert on YT from July 4, 2022. They sounded great, but with William it looked like a Commodores tribute band.

phunkdaddy said:

SoulAlive said:

I feel the same way.As far as I’m concerned….no Maurice,no Earth Wind and Fire.I guess it’s cool that they’re keeping the music alive but it’s just not the same for me.Too many of the major elements are gone.

It's not the same but the last time I saw them live in 2015 they were very good.
They had everyone outdoors on their feet the whole show. The only misstep was Phillip allowing his son to get on the mike a bit. He can't sing at all. Stay on the percussions. Some of their recent clips on YouTube last year made me cringe just a bit. Sadly it may be getting close to that time for some of the 70's acts to call it a day.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Yeah, I don't think William is a lead singer too (lol). There's a Commodores concert on YT from July 4, 2022. They sounded great, but with William it looked like a Commodores tribute band.

Yeah I just saw it.

I'm used to seeing William playing trumpet, guitar, and dancing.

In the Commodores prime William was actually the choreogrepher

This is more like a tiibute band. I wonder who is the guy they got to replace Clyde

The thing without alot of these NOSTALGIA acts, its really just that. It almost does not matter at this point to many people who is even in the band, or how many original members, especially when artists play a residency or something like that or one of these outdoor lawn shows, people by in large don't really care, some do, many don't. Which is how they really feel when the artists have new music, I mean if Lionel says "heres a new one from my upcoming record" everyone exits for the bathroom or decides now is time to talk to their friends or check their phones for how many likes they got for being at the Lionel show.

SolaceAHA said:

I mean,if Lionel says "heres a new one from my upcoming record" everyone exits for the bathroom or decides now is time to talk to their friends or check their phones for how many likes they got for being at the Lionel show.

so true

Ironically EWF had their first top ten hit in 30 years a little over a year ago

You Want My Love with Lucky Daye. Their was talk of a new album with Babyface

on as producer. Has been crickets ever since.

phunkdaddy said:

kitbradley said:

I saw EW&F back in 2001 when they where touring with the Chaka & Rufus reunion which lasted for about 15 minutes EW&F was good. Robert Brookins was singing the Maurice songs. It was definately not the same. Phillip was still killin' it though. I never heard much about whether or not there was contention between Lionel and the other Commodores members before he left. Sounds like there may have been?

RJOrion said:

SoulAlive said:

RJOrion said:

Ive seen a couple of videos of EW&F doing shows recently and Philip Bailey's voice sounded shot...it broke my heart seeing/hearing that...maybe he was under the weather or something, but i dont know

Yeah his voice is just not what it used to be.His son actually handles many of the vocals these days.

That's a shame--last time I saw him maybe about a decade ago his voice sounded great.

what I would really like is to see some of their 70s live footage released on blu-ray that would be more exciting to me.

like this.....

Earth Wind and Fire Spiri... - YouTube