Jody Watley & The Saturday Night Experience

Ms. Watley still has charisma and the moves. As you can see her fans had a great time with her in San Francisco last weekend. - Kickmag

The one and only Jody Watley returned to The Big Apple on Friday night for a sold out show at Times Square's B.B. King Blues Club. It was the first time the Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter performed in New York City in three years.

Adorned in a black sequined blouse, black slacks and Christian Louboutin pumps, the Chicago native (with the dazzling smile) rose to the festive occasion with a string of her most memorable tunes, including 'Looking For A New Love,' 'Don't You Want Me,' 'Real Love' and her newest single 'Candlelight,' during an hour-long set.

In between numbers, the charismatic chanteuse chopped it up some by offering anecdotes about various subject matter, including her divorce and her former group Shalamar – which prompted her to wish "love to all" while briefly singing a few of the group's biggest hits (along with the audience, of course).

One of the show's highlights occurred when Watley welcomed Tyrone Procter -- the original dancer from her 1987 music video for 'Still A Thrill' – to the stage to relive some of their former magic. He, along with his Imperial House of Waacking hoofers, bounced, twirled and offered decadent dance attitude – getting the eager crowd hyped with their surprise performance.

Watley, a consummate performer herself (formerly a top dancer during 'Soul Train's golden years), took a moment to school the audience about the fact that the "waacking" dance style predated the "vogue" style that has become ubiquitous amongst dance music lovers over the years. "I was doing that when I was like 14. Everything comes back around again," the 50-year-old diva proclaimed before launching an intense Michael Jackson tribute with her band. See exclusive video clip here.

With an amazing 32 Top Ten Singles and 13 No. 1 Singles in the R&B, pop and dance music genres over the past three decades, Watley has consistently broken new ground in music, video and fashion. With 'Candlelight' just arriving to radio this summer, there seems to be more of Watley's innovation in store.

And that, coupled with a light and lively BB King set, leaves her loyal legion of fans yearning for more.
- AOL Black Voices

"Icon" is a heavy weighted word, like "diva." Mind you, it does not carry the burdensome connotations that the latter proposes these days. The word icon is used to describe a person or a thing as a representative of something. And in this case, Ms. Jody Watley is the representation of class, attitude, fashion and of being a fearless purveyor of all things funky and sensational. Friday night (July 31) in B.B. King's, Jody Watley reminded everyone just how fitting that term is with regard to her.

Decked out in a black sequined top, one glove, sunglasses, her signature hoop earrings and that phenomenal fro (very reminiscent of MJ) - Jody Watley strutted her way on stage to the mic and opened her set with her cover of Chic's "I Want Your Love." And from that intro, she did not stop! Each hit song segued into another, "Your Love Keeps Working On Me" and "I Want You" and then right back to "I Want Your Love" effortlessly. The mantra for the night from the lady herself was, "It's nothing but a Jody Watley party!! And it's all about love tonight!" The audience didn't mind at all and everyone was quite content, besides, the party had just begun.

And so it continued and didn't miss a step, moving along with "I'm The One You Need" and then a funked and grooved up version of "Looking For A New Love" had everyone losing their collective minds. Patrons were aching to get out of their seat to shimmy and vogue it out. Explaining how "Don't You Want Me" was inspired by her love for New York City, Jody showed-off the dancing skills that she was first known for, from her Soul Train days. Strutting like a proud peacock, attitude at its peak and ready to give it to you! The delivery of "Friends" was bass heavy and altogether different than the version we are used to. But to top it off with "Everything," asking the crowd, "Do you love this song?!" was simply divine. The crowd's singalong and rousing applause after the song (that lasted for quite some time), was a sure sign of how much love there is for the track and the accomplished artist.

At this time, we came to the "free form" part of the show as Jody called it. A jazzy rendition of Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" was played by the band, while Jody sang various ad libs throughout. No one realized where she was going with this segment, until she sang a snippet of "A Night To Remember" and cleverly added: "Act like you want it, cause this is quick!" Adding on quick, yet satisfying snippets of "Lover In You" and "Make Your Move" were precious and rewarding. During the ‘cleansing' moment of the show, Jody shared that she can never be upset from the experience of Shalamar, but can take the good from it, learn and carry on. And that is exactly what she did.

Starting the last segment of the show with her recent single "Candlelight" was surely the mellowest part of the evening. Once the drum intro came in for "Real Love," Jody was on the floor sashaying and cat crawling and then...the shoes came off. As the screens played Jody Watley video snippets, B.B. King's all of a sudden turned into a samba dance party. Jody had mentioned on Twitter she would love to have Rakim and dancer extraordinaire Tyrone Proctor as guests at the show. Well, her wish came true for the latter. The fierce Tyrone Proctor hit the stage and turned it out with Jody, attitude posing and bringing "It's Still A Thrill" to life! The future students of ‘Diva' training joined the two on stage, for a finale that was energetic, relentless and simply brilliant. Ending the show with a dedication to Michael Jackson with "You Wanna Be Starting Something" allowed Jody to strut off stage, exactly the same way she strutted on. Shades on, with attitude in tow.

Ever so friendly throughout her performance, Jody stopped to pose and take pictures mid-song. She also stopped to give compliments and shake hands with her fans in the audience. Her band kept the pace and her cowboy hat-wearing DJ Bill Coleman didn't miss a beat or step with Jody. Their choreographed movements were in synch and timed to the tee. The only unfortunate element of the night was that the show was a seated event. With all of the energy emitted from the stage, everyone wanted to get up and dance - but there was no dance floor! This was definitely not a show to be seated at, there was too much to celebrate. All in all, everyone did what they could in their seat, since as Jody said - it was all about love.

By Ann Marie Collymore



Read more: Concert Review: Jody Watley at B.B. King's | SoulTracks - Soul Music Biographies, News and Reviews - Soultracks