Music > Live Reviews

Chic & Nile Rodgers

Newmarket Racecourse

15/08/18

It’s Friday night and I am off to Newmarket races, it’s certainly been a while since I was last here on the course! The extra incentive this evening, if I even needed one, is that the legend of funk, soul, disco and pop one Mr Nile Rodgers ‘The Hit Maker’ from the Chic organisation is in the house, playing with his band after the horse racing finishes.

Heading down the A14, it’s all looking rather gloomy as the heavens open and the sky turns dull grey, and we miss the first two races due to the horrendous traffic. But, as with many days this summer, we are blessed as the sun decides to show its face right on time.

Beer in hand, we place our bets and I somehow manage to win £25 on my first bet! The winnings certainly dried up thereafter, and as the sun began to go down so Nile Rodgers' Chic emerged to warm up the evening a few degrees.

The man is a true living legend; he comes on some ten minutes before they are officially due to warm us into the Nile zone, preparing us for what we are about to witness. The guy is so down to earth it’s unreal, like he wants the audience to really appreciate and embrace the band, the people and the songs that they are about to play for us. He is clearly a man savouring life, having had cancer twice during an extremely distinguished career that has seen Rodgers and Chic work with so many celebrated artists. Over almost fifty years the group have enjoyed many, many hits and sold over millions of albums globally, yet he poses for selfies and gets everyone in the mood. The vibe is already great and the show hasn’t even started yet.

And so the show itself. They kick off with a hatrick of Chic hits (Everybody Dance, I Want Your Love and Dance, Dance, Dance) then two Diana Ross classics, in I’m Coming Out and Upside Down, followed closely by a couple of Sister Sledge cuts. I feel compelled, almost dutiful, to express in this review just how genius Nile Rodgers is; I can think of no better way to explain this than to record right here breadth of iconic songs Rodgers leads across an astonishing set list. Madonna’s Like A Virgin, Duran Duran’s Notorious, more Sister Sledge with Thinking Of You, followed by David Bowie’s Let’s Dance (with some great vocals by drummer Ralph Rolle) Chic’s My Feet Keep Dancing and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, which Rodgers co-wrote and featured on. To close the show, two more absolute Chic classics in Le Freak and Good Times, all mixed in with a sprinkling of The Sugarhill Gang's Rappers Delight. Is it any wonder that the man is now the chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame?

The band are absolutely on fire. Jerry Barnes is a brilliant bassist and Kimberly Davis (a singer with two Billboard number ones to her name) and Folami are great singers in their own right. With swagger and style they smoothly handle everything that comes at them in this classy and uplifting set.

Get the picture? Well, me and twenty thousand or so others certainly did. The disco era in the '70s was a very special time in many people’s lives and tonight many relived that period. There were no silly outfits on display in the audience (thank goodness) this was no novelty show - it just oozed with pure class from the main man and his Chic family.

Audience in raptures, it's been an absolute privilege to witness a true musical legend in action. A memorable and awesome highlight: watching Rodgers play that very famous ‘chucking’ style on his Fender Stratocaster. Yowsah.

Photo: Angela Smith