MUSIC
Dionne Warwick | One Last Time ★★★★★
Hamer Hall, January 16
There’s a certain anticipation when you’re about to see music royalty perform live. The crowd applauds Dionne Warwick as she glides on stage in a shimmering suit with the pianist playing the melody to Walk On By.
Dionne Warwick performs at Hamer Hall on Thursday night.Credit: Martin Philbey
Greeting the audience with a warm “good evening”, she encourages them to “open up your mouths and let some words roll out” by singing along or “get on up and let it all hang loose” by dancing in their seats. This is a singer who understands her fans.
Warwick is a five-time Grammy winner, and has a Walk of Fame star and B.B. King Lifetime Achievement Award. The 84-year-old American singer is behind only Aretha Franklin as the female vocalist whose songs have spent the most weeks in the charts. This tour celebrates 50 years of hits, most of them written by long-time collaborator and composer Burt Bacharach.
With 69 of Warwick’s singles reaching the Billboard 100 over three decades, you’d be familiar with many of her classics, even if you weren’t aware she was the voice behind them. Accompanied by percussion, drums, bass and piano, she sings all the crowd favourites, including soul ballads I’ll Never Love This Way Again and a cover she recorded of What the World Needs Now Is Love, originally sung by Jackie DeShannon.
Loading
Warwick mixes things up on stage, adjusting songs to build an element of surprise for those familiar with her catalogue. In her rendition of R’n’B track I Say A Little Prayer, a song she says is dear to her heart, she extends the ending with different variations of the chorus, pausing and joking to build suspense until the final note.
Her wit is sharp as a tack. During What the World Needs Now Is Love, she asks the crowd to sing “What the world needs now, is love sweet love” three times, which they stuff up. One audience member bravely takes up the challenge and sings solo out of tune. “We have a soloist out there – the person with the microphone does the talking,” she retorts.
Remaining seated throughout the show, she eventually stands after the finale, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. She hugs herself as if to receive the warmth of the room and waves regally as she walks offstage.
Reviewed by Vyshnavee Wijekumar
