A couple nights ago, while playing pyramid solitaire – my idea of relaxing – I was listening to music on YouTube in the background. I don’t remember what song I started with, but I ended up coming across a Whitney Houston concert filmed live at Constitution Hall in Washington D.C.
For me, this is one of the greatest concerts of all time. It holds a special meaning to me for so many reasons…okay, maybe so many is an exaggeration, but for several reasons.
I first saw this concert about 22 years ago in 1998. I was at my Grandmother’s house (though at the time, I also lived there) in the living room. It had been brought over on VHS, after being taped from HBO which we didn’t have.
This was before the “crack is wack” Whitney, the “show me the receipts” Whitney. This was when she was still just The Voice. Even though this isn’t her best vocal performance, and in hindsight it may even be a harbinger of the troubles that were later to compromise her singing ability, it was still pretty damn good.
This concert introduced me to songs that I had never heard before. It was my first time hearing Porgy and Summertime. My first time hearing Alfie. And my first time hearing one of my all-time favorite songs – Ain’t No Way by Aretha Franklin, uh, love that song! As a matter of fact, for the longest time – I’m talking until about a year ago – I thought the words to the bridge of that song were “if you need me, don’t you know that I need you” as Whitney sings in during this concert. The words are actually, “baby, please, please, please,” or something like that. Something totally different than what Whitney sings, but I actually like Whitney’s version better – the words she uses at least.
The concert also had some historical significance, which Whitney alluded to during the show. Back when I first saw the concert, it wasn’t too long after I had taken a music 101 class in college where I learned about a woman named Marion Anderson. She was a contralto if memory serves me correctly, and she wasn’t allowed to sing inside Constitution Hall because she was Black. Then several decades later, here comes Whitney and she’s doing a show in that same place that Marion Anderson couldn’t enter, and her show was being nationally televised. What an appropriate evolution.
I also like the whole ambience of the concert. It was so simple: just jazzy, and mellow and soulful – just Whitney and the band. She interacted with the audience and didn’t do a bunch of wardrobe changes. There were no props or dancers crowding the stage. Well, except one. That happened to be my favorite part of the concert.
Bobby Brown came out and did an interpretive dance to Whitney’s version of Mr. Bojangles, which she sang as a tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr. I had no idea Bobby could dance like that. I mean I knew he could bust out those “Every Little Step I Take” moves, but this was different. That segment of the show was just so beautiful: Whitney’s voice, Bobby’s moves, the lyrics and story of the song – so enthralling. At one point her mother, and then brother also showed up to do a duet with her. Even little Bobbi Christina ran on stage – it was a family affair.
With this quarantine going on, and actually attending a concert right now being out of the question it’s fun to look back on a different time, while at the same time giving us something – when this is all over – to look forward to.
Here are the videos I checked out on YouTube:
Bobby Brown’s apperance:
The entire concert:
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