BY the time Nile Rodgers took to the stage on the sunniest Saturday evening you could imagine, Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park was ready to party. And considering Rodgers has written, produced and arranged a simply staggering array of hit records over the last 40 years, it was quite a soundtrack.
Earlier in the day acts such as De La Soul had warmed the crowd up nicely as part of the weekend's Fiesta X FOLD festival, but it was the Chic frontman they really wanted to see.
And bounding on stage like a man half his age, complete with signature beret, the 65-year-old guitarist delivered from the word go. Opener Everybody Dance set the scene, followed in quick succession by the likes of Dance, Dance, Dance and I Want Your Love.
So packed is the New Yorker’s repertoire with hits that he had to incorporate a medley, complete with I’m Coming Out and Upside Down (written for Diana Ross) and the Sister Sledge classic We Are Family, to fit them all in.
Credit must also go to the quality singers Rodgers surrounds himself with, Kimberly Davis and Fomali, and a horn section that was on fire from the outset.
A couple of technical glitches slowed things down at one point, but Rodgers kept the momentum with a clutch of the numbers he has sprinkled magic upon for others, not least Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, and things were soon back up to speed.
A particular highlight of the night was dancing along to the searing funk guitar line of Let’s Dance, the song that brought a whole new audience to David Bowie.
By the end of the set a whole section of the crowd had joined Rodgers and the band on stage for the Chic classic Good Times, and as the sun went down the audience - many of whom were clearly old enough to remember the song first time round - were in rapture.
Good Times indeed from one of the most talented and energetic hitmakers in the business.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel