Nile Rodgers brought funk and soul to the Barrowlands
On a sweltering evening in the Barrowland Ballroom Nile Rodgers reminded us that effectively he is the living embodiment of pop music.
Backed by a group of stellar musicians and two remarkable vocalists - Audrey Martells and Naomi Rodgers, both dressed in silver and Afros (purple in Martells's case), and looking like they've both just stepped out of a George Clinton fever dream - Rodgers telescoped 50 years of music into just under two hours of continuous sonic pleasure.
Read More:
Starting with a quartet of Chic classics - Freak Out, Everybody Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) and I Want Your Love; all of them sounding fresh and vivid and shockingly contemporary - what followed was a trip through Rodgers's back catalogue, taking in songs from Diana Ross, David Bowie, Madonna, Beyonce and Daft Punk. All songs graced by Rodgers' writing, performing and producing skills and all of them as familiar as the back of your hand.
Beyonce's Cuff It - a top 10 hit and a Grammy winner - was as close this evening gets to a deep cut. Duran Duran's Notorious even got a run-out. But so good were the performances and the vocals that you never felt the absence of the original singers. This was an act of reclamation.
In all, it felt like the best kind of history lesson. Since he and his friend, the late Bernard Edwards, co-founded Chic in the late 1970s, Rodgers has been a remarkably consistent and successful music-maker and tonight that back story was laid out for us.
There's an astonishing scene in Ryan Coogler's recent film Sinners in which the entire history of black music, past, present and future, is conjured up in a 1920s Mississippi juke joint. At times watching Rodgers at the Barrowland I was sure I was watching an extended version of that sequence.
At the same time, this was a reminder that great music never goes out of date.
This was a tightly organised and choreographed performance - some songs were cut short just to squeeze more than 20 songs into the set - with every transition nailed down and on the money. And yet it never felt calculated, confined, or by the numbers. 'We're sweating our asses off,' Rodgers admitted as the temperature peaked.
You might be inclined to wonder why. Rodgers has survived cancer twice and suffered in the past from a terrible fear of flying. He is - as every second of this gig reminds us - hugely successful. He doesn't need to do this anymore.
But as he duckwalked across the stage or dueted with bass player Jerry Barnes it was abundantly clear that he still loves it. And that love is reciprocated from a raucous, joyous Glasgow audience. Everyone of us lost in music.
This was a breathless night. A giddy, exhilarating performance and a reminder that the primary purpose of music is to make you dance.
So, I did.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
David Walliams leaves pal Sir Elton John in stitches as he dances wildly during their swanky lunch in St Tropez
left pal Sir Elton John in stitches as he got to his feet to dance during their swanky lunch at the La Guerite beach club in St Tropez. The comedian, 53, couldn't contain his excitement when Whitney Houston 's I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) was played, much to the amusement of the pop icon, 78. David stood at the table and swayed animatedly to the music, before moving to dance with his hands on the back of Sir Elton's chair. The Crocodile Rock legend, who looked smart in a summer shirt, appeared in great spirits and sang along before collapsing into fits of giggles. David, shielding his eyes behind shades, was loving every moment and had a huge grin on his face as the other diners laughed along. He shared the clip to X and captioned it: 'Summer holiday'. As well as Elton David was joined by Heartstopper stars Kit Connor, 21, Joe Locke, 21, and Tobie Donovan, 23, sharing snaps as they soaked up the sun together. The La Guerite beach club is the very place that Sir Elton reportedly 'said his piece' about the Beckham feud as he dined at the swanky eatery with Brooklyn and wife Nicola Peltz last month. The once close-knit Beckham family has been thrown into turmoil in recent months, amid claims Brooklyn has become increasingly estranged from his famous parents after failing to attend any of his father 50th birthday celebrations in May. It was also revealed that Brooklyn and Nicola's Instagram accounts no longer follow his younger brothers in the latest family drama. According to The Sun, Sir Elton 'briefly' spoke about the family's feud in the hope Brooklyn would patch things up with his parents, and footage of the outing shared on social media showed the pair shaking hands. Speaking about Elton's attempts to play peacekeeper in the row, a source said: 'Elton is the showbiz equivalent of Switzerland. He's utterly neutral in this row. 'Elton of old may have relished in taking sides - in this case his young godson, Brooklyn - but two years off his 80th birthday, he's a man who has seen and done it all. He just wants everyone to be happy. 'There is no side-taking as such; he simply adores his godson, and really has a laugh with Nicola who he thinks has a great sense of humour. He wants to look after them in his role as 'spiritual adviser' as a godfather, it's a role he takes seriously. 'Elton and David think the situation is terribly sad, and has gently suggested to all involved that life is short - to patch things up.' The source added Elton is 'adamant he doesn't want to stick his nose in' the feud, he just simply 'wants peace'. Sir Elton is also said to have generously picked up the entire bill, after dining on the restaurant's signature lobster linguine which comes in at an eye-watering £190. David affectionately calls the musician 'Uncle Elton' after becoming friends in his football heyday. Sir Elton was due to perform at the Beckhams wedding in 1999 before suffering a heart attack that prevented him from playing. He later sang at one of the children's christenings. Meanwhile Victoria once disclosed that it was Elton who inspired her to say goodbye to the Spice Girls, penning an emotional letter to her older self where she confessed that watching her friend perform made her realise that her true calling lay beyond singing. It comes after Elton poured cold water on rumours he's planning a flashy ABBA-style hologram concert, despite fans thinking the tech-filled spectacle could be next on the cards. Hopeful supporters began speculating after spotting trademark documents for his name covering holograms, video projections and immersive 3D virtual reality experiences. But according to reports, those close to the Rocket Man have made it clear there's no such show in the pipeline. Elton has long made his stance clear, previously admitting in 2018 that the idea wasn't for him. However, during his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, he did briefly dabble in the digital world with a London pop-up at King's Cross, which featured an augmented reality version of him playing the piano.
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Ashley Banjo breaks silence after appearing in Bonnie Blue documentary – and reveals how they know each other
ASHLEY Banjo has broken his silence after appearing in Bonnie Blue's documentary. The Diversity hunk made an unlikely cameo in the new Channel 4 documentary earlier this summer, focusing on porn star Bonnie Blue, with fans instantly stunned when they spotted the Britain's Got Talent star. 6 6 6 Appearing in 1,000 Men And Me – The Bonnie Blue story, Ashley can be seen with his arm around the X-rated OnlyFans creator in an old photo. The photo flashed up on screen as her mum recalled her passion for dance as a youngster. He was not named when the photo was shown to viewers, but it was clear his image was a reference to Bonnie 's love affair with dance. And now Ashley has broken his silence while chatting to his brother Jordan Banjo and Diversity star Perri Kiely on the Brothers Uncovered podcast. "Turns out Ash, you're in Bonnie Blue's documentary," Jordan said. "I do feature in Bonnie Blue's new documentary," Ashley confirmed. Jordan then gave listeners some "context" saying how Bonnie was once a dancer, with this spoken about on the programme. He then explained how they were showing clips of her dancing when she was younger. Adding how the snap appeared on-screen with Ashley posing with Bonnie, the boys all laughed. "Do you know what's nuts about it? "Because I had a few messages, and people sending me, like videoing the screen going, 'you're in the Bonnie Blue documentary'. "The fact they don't mention my name, or there's no context," Ashley said. He went on: "It's just the Bonnie Blue doc. And yes they're talking about her being a dancer, but then we just pop up." Jordan then confessed that when he was getting messages saying his brother was in the documentary he "panicked a bit". Who is Bonnie Blue? Born in May 1999, Bonnie - whose real name is Tia Billinger - grew up in a small Derbyshire village, and attended the Friesland School in the village of Sandiacre. She has two half-siblings - a sister and a brother - who have always remained out of the public eye. She never knew her biological father, and considers stepfather Nicholas Elliott her dad. Bonnie also became something of a dance star in her local area, and competed in the British Street Dance Championships alongside her sister back in 2015. She also had a part-time job at Poundstretcher as a teenager. After school, she began working in recruitment. In October 2022, Bonnie married Oliver Davidson, who she had started dating when she was just 15. Once they were married, they moved to Australia, where Bonnie continued working in recruitment. However, it was in Australia that she decided to pursue a different line of work, and tried her luck as a 'cam girl' - crediting Oliver for giving her the confidence to enter the adult entertainment world. She quickly made a name for herself in the industry, and was soon making £5,000 a week. But while her work life was going from strength to strength, her relationship was crumbling, and she and Oliver split after almost a decade together. She moved over to OnlyFans following her cam girl success, and once again found fame on there. She quickly became a favourite on the site, especially thanks to her "niche" of sleeping with young male students - such as when she bedded 158 students during Nottingham Trent University's freshers week in September 2024. Bonnie is now estimated to be worth £3 million, and makes around £600,000 a month on OnlyFans. Her family are also supportive of her work, with mum Sarah Billinger even claiming she's her daughter's PA, and helps clean up after Bonnie's events - as well as handing out condoms to young clients. In January 2025, Bonnie claimed to have broken the world record for the most amount of sex in 12 hours, after apparently sleeping with 1,057 men from 1pm to 1am at a secret London event. "Ain't it mad though, you just never know, like what people are going to do," Ashley said. "Or who they are." He went on to say how Bonnie has gone on to become one of the most "controversial" and "talked about" people. Reacting to the clip from the podcast episode, which was shared on TikTok, fans got in on the action. One person asked: "Why was he watching the documentary in the first place?" Another joked: "Right away I was losing respect for Ash." "That's definitely someone you don't want to be associated with," penned a third, While a fourth asked: "Do they not notify you though?" 6
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
The curious incident of the dog, the Hanover ballet and the everyday sexism we face as female arts critics
Remember the international outrage over a lurid incident involving a female dance critic, a male choreographer and a deposit of his pet dachshund's excrement? In February 2023 the German choreographer Marco Goecke cornered Wiebke Hüster in the foyer of the Hanover State Opera during the interval of a show. Goecke, who was then artistic director of the venue, brought out a bag of dog poo from his pocket and pushed it into the journalist's face. The reason? Hüster had written a negative review of his Netherlands-based show, In the Dutch Mountains, which had appeared in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Faz) on the night of his hundekot attack. The incident sparked column inches of conversation in Germany on critical culture, with a ripple effect further afield: in the Netherlands, theatre critics condemned it as an act of violence against freedom of expression; in the US, the American Theatre Critics Association did the same, with a blaze of accompanying newspaper headlines across Europe. Goecke lost his job and became a professional persona non grata. Good, I thought, as a critic who has been approached by some angry men myself in theatre auditoriums, though never with this level of repellently visceral aggression. The reaction was indubitable proof of the culture industry's zero tolerance towards assault in Germany, right? Especially in a case involving a man attacking a woman in this publicly shaming way. Wrong. In May 2024, Goecke was appointed ballet director at Theater Basel for the upcoming 2025-26 season. He had remained in the doghouse for just over a year despite all the hand-wringing in Germany. What does this say about the position of critics in general, and female reviewers in particular, given the misogynistic undertones in Goecke's act, which seemed like a calculated aim to humiliate and degrade? Reflecting on the episode in a new BBC Radio 4 documentary about the state of culture criticism in our fast-changing world of AI, algorithms and influencer-critics, Hüster spoke to me about her lack of surprise at Goecke's rehabilitation. She had always assumed he would find work again. From a highly experienced critic who has been on the scene for several decades, what does that say about gender dynamics in the arts? Shockingly, in the moments after the attack she felt grateful it had not been worse, despite her sense of violation. 'I thought: 'It's bad – but it's not a knife in your ribs,'' she said, and went on to describe the hate burning off her attacker, as if he bore an 'absolute sincere wish to do me real harm'. Hüster's vocabulary couldn't sound more gendered, with Goecke's behaviour akin to that of a stalker, not an artistic director. She herself puts the intensity of his reaction partly down to the fact that she was a woman doing a critical takedown – in one of Europe's most influential papers. But in Germany she is far from the only female critic in the field. A Berlin theatre critic tells me there are far more female culture reviewers now than was previously the case. Hüster has seen this change too. The trend appears the same for UK criticism. And yet I fear that the optics of gender parity – or at least progress – are deceptive when set against the cold, hard facts. A survey conducted in 2019 by the five-year Women in Theatre research project, whose partners include the Writers' Guild, WOW (Women of the World) and Equity, among others, found that only 10% of the reviewing corps for drama were female. Subsequent reports in 2021 and 2023 corroborated this finding. This figure surprises and dismays me. It goes against the often-assumed pace of progress. So much so that Arts Council England's national council governing body has just approved a year-long taskforce to investigate the underrepresentation of and discrimination against women in the arts as a result of the Women in Theatre research project. Are we going backwards? Putting Hüster's appalling experience aside, you could argue that the clashes between artists and critics nowadays are not half as fractious as they were a few decades ago, when criticism really was a macho sport with full-out eruptions of physical violence. This newspaper's Michael Billington was at the receiving end of a blow himself. That this no longer happens is a sign of progress, isn't it? Well, it's about optics again, because the punches are now thrown on social media, and so often, as findings reveal time and again, women are subjected to more vociferous attacks and pile-ons than their male counterparts. There were murmurs from some corners that Hüster's review was unnecessarily harsh. I wonder if this judgment was cast because female critics are held to a different standard, however unconsciously – and whether we are expected to be less combative, more balanced? Hüster concedes that her review came with colourful language and humour. So what? It is just this kind of combative spirit that was espoused by William Blake in his idea that 'opposition is true friendship', that is, learning that occurs in the rich tension sparked between opposite viewpoints. Hüster also spoke to me of adhering to her own boundaries, never venturing into commentary that was personal or related to appearance. I hope male writers or directors have their boundaries too, especially if they approach a female critic to contest a review in person. I have had this several times, and have felt threatened by it. It's a lonely job, as Hüster pointed out to me (and all the more so for the 10% of UK-based theatre critics who are female), but it really shouldn't be a dangerous one. Where does all of this leave the female critic? Where Hüster is, I suppose. Whatever the implications of Goecke's comeback, it is business as usual for her. 'I have not changed because of that incident,' she said. 'No, that would be awful.' Indeed. Arifa Akbar is the Guardian's chief theatre critic. She presents No Criticism, a two-part documentary broadcast on BBC Radio 4, on 12 and 19 August
