When it comes to music royalty - Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Madonna and James Brown come to mind - few can play an intimate concert like the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.
Closing the New Melody Fair's summer season with a big bang last Friday night, Franklin proved that legends do not need football stadiums or hockey arenas to put on a great show.
The first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the winner of 15 Grammy Awards, including a 1990 Living Legends Award, Franklin breezed through a short - but sweet - set of some of her most famous songs. "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," "Chain of Fools" and "Freeway of Love" were all revisited, while "Natural Woman" and "Think" were notable absences.
It was apparent from the top of the evening that nothing was going to get between Franklin and her audience. Never mind that the temperature outside the 3,400-seat theater-in-the-round was noticeably cooler than inside, or that a 20-minute intermission needlessly followed the opening - and unfunny - comedian, Nick Syracuse.
Making a grand entrance through one of the theater's many aisles, Franklin, with the help of some bodyguards, descended the stage to a bevy of applause and screaming. Her band - a pleasing blend of church revival and classic Motown - played a rolling medley of her greatest hits while she took the stage. Its grandeur was reminiscent of Rocky's march to the boxing ring.
An interesting relationship between Franklin and her audience grew from this moment. When the applause seemed to carry on longer than she wanted, Franklin asked everyone to sit down - and they did. There's apparently no reproaching the Queen.
In fine vocal form and even finer physical form (than usual), Franklin rifled through a few brief jazz standards before ripping through her hits.
"Chain of Fools" burst into action as the entire theater leapt to its feet. An elderly woman with a big church-going hat was seen waving her walking cane in the air, just as a group of secretary-like ladies formed a conga-line. There was no rest for the weary this evening.
As soon as the song got underway, a team of dancers rushed the aisles and started inducing those who were less-than-rhythmic into subtle movement, if not more.
Almost without any warning, the band segued right into "Respect," Franklin's signature Motown classic. Realizing that she hadn't saved this one for her finale or encore, it became clear that the rest of the evening would be full of surprises.
The escalating temperatures and up-beat mood tired Franklin out, though, and it didn't take too long. During a brief intermission, in which Franklin refreshed with cold water on the dimly lit stage, her dancers danced to Nelly's "Hot In Herre."
"It's getting pretty hot in here," Franklin said when she reappeared from the break. "But I ain't taking my clothes off. You didn't pay for that."
The next few songs were from her upcoming Sept. 16 release, "So Damn Happy," and her last studio album, 1998's "A Rose Is Still A Rose." The title tracks off both of these albums were the most entertaining, while others were formulaic.
With today's musical standards - even with the best of producers - any contemporary outing Franklin seems to take ends up being too constrictive of her best assets: the ability to rip and roar through the most soulful of ballads and explosive high-tempos.
It was a perfect night of classic music from the Queen, though. Neither heat, nor sweat, nor incomplete set lists - nor the sum of these parts - did anything to deter the audience from Franklin.
It seemed that a rose is still, and will always be, a rose.
