I decided to focus my year on items that captivate me, so when an opportunity arrived to travel to Mohegan Sun to see Aretha Franklin in concert, I couldn't pass. Most recently, she brought the house down singing Carole King's "A Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center Honors - a performance that allegedly caused President Obama to cry. That was just 26 days ago and I got to see her live last night.
Our seats were in the nosebleeds, but were free. The acoustics were great no matter where anyone sat, so it was no big deal that she was far, far away. When she came out to the stage, though, I thought, "There's no way this woman will be able to sustain 2 hours in heals," and I was right. After her first set she kicked them off.
Aretha Franklin is a couple years older than my mother and I was trying to imagine what my mom's life would be like if she had to travel to different arenas, practice sets, and perform in front of 15,000 people every night in her 70s. I said, "I don't know. I am sure Aretha is thinking, I just want to get this over with so I can get in my pajamas, get a bowl of ice-cream, and turn on Days of Our Lives." It was extremely impressive to think that she is still hitting the stage and giving the crowd what they want 7 decades into her life. Yes, she didn't sustain songs like she used to, and she admitted that she got winded rather easy, but she truly rocked the salute to Natalie Cole, followed by a rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters. She earned her Diva title, if not invented it!
The artist closed the show with nothing else but R-E-S-P-E-C-T and the crowd went wild. I was able to catch some of the live performance on my phone, however I open up day two of my blog with a performance that captivated the attention of the Kennedy Honors. Not bad for the first day of 2016.
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