Smooth Lionel Richie thrills 10,000 fans

PRIME Minister Patrick Manning came in for some light picong from American singing superstar Lionel Richie at the Queen’s Park Savannah on Saturday night. When Richie was finished singing one of his songs, he told the audience: “you should see your Prime Minister, his eyes were closed and he sang every word.” The massive audience roared in approval. Richie met PM Manning and Mrs Manning backstage before the start of the show. Dressed in a white long sleeved cotton shirt and white pants, Richie — a multiple Grammy award winner — thrilled the massive crowd and had them dancing. Even Mrs Manning literally put on her dancing shoes, dancing and prancing with a broad smile on her face, while a more reserved PM Manning sat and nodded his approval at his wife’s dancing abilities.

Richie made his dramatic entrance on stage singing “Hello” to more than 10,000 screaming fans before getting into “Running with the Night” and “Penny Lover.” Richie then stopped his performance to verbally reminisce on the last time he was in Trinidad, back in 1978, with the Commodores. He then eased across to his grand piano to render “Easy” and “My Love” before being literally thrown off the piano by another member of his band. Richie then got a big crowd response when he said: “I’m convinced that I got to move back to the Caribbean” as he launched into a reggae version of “Easy” and from that point on, it was dancing time.

Several couples in the audience got up to dance to the other songs including “You Are The Sun,” “Sail On,” “Crazy Over You,” “Stuck On You,” “Dancing On The Ceiling” and “Se La” — a song he said he hadn’t done in 15 years. Richie then returned to the piano to do the classic “Three Times A Lady.” Opening the show was reigning Road March King, Shurwayne Winchester, who showed his versatility as a performer as he did R&B hits of yesteryear, well-known reggae songs and some of his own laid back songs. The audience then had to await David Rudder for some 15 minutes, prompting some of them to shout: “Forget Rudder, bring on Lionel!” However, when Rudder arrived on stage, he immediately got into the groove and belted out several of his hit songs.