Review: Tina Turner II

File photo

Tina Turner's second Sprint Center show in eight days was a lot like the first: a two-hour music/dance extravaganza punctuated with fits of reverence and joy.

Wednesday's show was the fourth in this tour. After last week's inaugural show at Sprint Center, Turner and her fleet of tractor-trailers rolled into Chicago for two shows in four days. Any differences between the two Sprint Center shows can probably be attributed to the extra time on stage: She seemed more relaxed; and the entire show felt a little more polished and energized.

During her first set, she orchestrated a rowdy men vs. women sing-along during the chorus to "What's Love Got to Do With It." She also got the whole place involved in a sing-and-response during "Nutbush City Limits." And she flirted a little with her "Gladiator"/dancer Jesse "Justice" Smith.

It's still hard to believe Turner is only a few weeks away from her 69th birthday. Her stamina is remarkable, given all the singing, dancing and wardrobe-changing she goes through over the course of this high-energy show. The intermission is a service to the crowd as much as it is to her; it gives everyone a chance to catch their breaths.

The highlights: The 1-2-3 punch of "River Deep, Mountain High," "What You Get Is What You See" and "Better Be Good to Me"; and the covers of "Help" (she ought to record and release that), "Let's Stay Together" and "Jumpin Jack Flash/It's Only Rock and Roll."

The spectacles were just as enjoyable the second time: her entrance during "Goldeneye"; the Mad  Max routine during "We Don't Need Another Hero"; her sexy dancers sexy routines; Lisa Fischer's vocals on "It's Only Rock and Roll"; and the finale, when a long,  mechanical arm swung Turner over the crowd on the floor. (She changed that routine a bit: She wisely didn't dance on it nor did she descend from it like she did during the first show here. Safety first.)

The crowd this evening seemed a little more sit-down reserved than the opening night crowd. That perception could have something to do with my seats: I was on the floor, way up front, for the first show, but farther back on the floor and then up in Section 118 for the second show. The sound was decent to good all night but better on the floor, by the way.

The place went craziest during the last part of the show, especially for the back-to-back fireworks of "The Best" and "Proud Mary."  Two and a half hours after she started, she finished with "Be Tender With Me, Baby," a mid-tempo ballad that prompted a lot of people to head towards the exits. Not me. I'd seen all this before only eight days ago, but I also had the gut feeling I may never see anything like it again.

| Timothy Finn, The Star 

Setlist: Steamy Windows; Typical Male; River Deep, Mountain High; What You Get Is What You See; Better Be Good To Me; Acid Queen; What's Love Got To Do With It; Private Dancer; We Don't Need Another Hero. Intermission. Help; Undercover Agent for the Blues; Let's Stay Together; I Can't Stand the Rain; Jumpin' Jack Flash/It's Only Rock and Roll; Goldeneye; Addicted to Love; The Best; Proud Mary. Encore: Nutbush City Limits; Be Tender With Me, Baby.

Comments

[Emmi]

Last night's performance was a once-in-a-lifetime experience!! TINA IS FANTASTIC!!!! WOW!

[Rose]

I went last week to the opening night performance as well as last night's performance.....Tina was simply the best....both times over. She is an absolute one of a kind that I hope continues to perform for years to come!!!!

[david marks]

wow i had waiting 38 years to see her, being from southern iowa it was all worth the drive and the money. she is amazing, people this was history. and i am so thankful i got to experence this wonderful women. tina we all love you. bless you

[MiWeb315]

Tim:
Tina did in fact record "Help" as a B-side around the time of Private Dancer and it is included in the remastered rerelease of that fine album on CD.
Regards,
Mike Webber

[smartman]

Is it really necessary to review the same concert twice? Isn't the BIG STORY this week that with the Cerner Convention staking out the P&L and another big crowd for Tina's second show that no one got robbed, shot or cars broken into and that David Cordish's statement about GANGS running rampant downtown was much ado about nothing. How about his statement that there aren't enough people living downtown? Isn't the real story that urban redevelopment driven by bars and restaurants might not be the best way to revitalize the urban core?

[Tanya]

I went to Tina's first show here and was interested to read how her return visit was. This blog is about music, not about the debate over the downtown revitalization. I enjoy reading Tim's reviews and everything else he writes on this blog, and I think it was completely appropriate that he reviewed her second show. It put me right back there, soaking up the legend that is Tina Turner. Like Tim said, she is like none other, and the days of performers like her are numbered.

[Tim Finn]

... next time, I'll work in my philosophies on TIF, subprime mortgages and school vouchers. Thanks for having my back, Tanya. Smartman? We try to keep this all about the music.

[smartman]

Music and politics go together like Salt n' Pepa...Mick and Keith...Joe Biden and David Cook....you know the plagiarism stuff..allegedly

Without music, life would be a mistake.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Without life, there would be no music.
Smartman

[Hollister]

Was down on the 5th row and saw a fantastic show.

Music and sex go together too, as well as music and fashion...but this ain't a blog about politics, sex or fashion. It's about the music here, the one thing that unites us rather than divides us.

[Michael]

Smartman:
I'm as much a "political junkie" as the next person and indeed there is an intersection of music and politics in events such as Springsteen's touring for Obama, as well as a tradition that well precedes Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land". That said, for politics, I go to political sites and mostly do my own critical thinking. For music, I go to music sites. Tim does a fine job of finding the appropriate balance where the two intersect but your suggestion seems much more than a reach.
Mike Webber

[smartman]

I'm down with T-Finn! Hell, if the rest of the paper were written with the same passion and intelligence as is displayed here by the journalists and the bloggers, for the most part, the Star would be setting subscription records.