愛惠旗艦店

A Fan's Review
Soul Divas Tour at Oberhausen
July 11, the 3rd night

Okay you guys, I'm now a day after the concert in Oberhausen, totally exhausted and almost voiceless, but ready to give you a full review of the concert and experience.

For the ones who don’t know me, I’m Dave and I’m a 22 year old Whitney fan since 92 from The Netherlands. I travelled to the concert with 3 other fans from the Netherlands, Chantal, Lex and DJ. When we arrived at the venue, we met the other fans from France who were already waiting there. It must have been around 12;30 in the afternoon when we arrived, we just had to be sure that we got in the first row and it paid off because the first 100 people who arrived received a green bracelet which allowed us to stand in the area right in front of the stage. Eventually we managed to get a place right in front of the stage, first row. (Although it took some pushing and kicking to get there haha.)

Introducing Soul Divas...
Before the show started, we saw that on our left, BK, Cissy and some of Bobby’s kids were seated to get ready for the show. On the right side were some other family members of Whitney (a few nephews) standing. In the background they played an instrumental medley of the soul divas which included IBIYAM, IWALY,What the world needs now from Dionne and a jazz track from Natalie. And on the big screen was a short clip which showed “Soul Divas…….Whitney Houston…..Natalie Cole…….Dionne Warwick…..” and then it changed into; “Good evening Germany”.

A quarter past 8 it was for showtime, the lights went off and the screen lighted up. The audience was cheering. It showed segments from an interview with Natalie and a short live segment with big hair. Then you saw Dionne from the interview she did with Whitney. When Whitney came on sitting next to her, the whole audience cheered and clapped. They showed a short live segment from Dionne as well and then came the “and IIIIIIIIIIII will always…” part from Whitney’s videoclip and a segment from the interview where Whitney is telling that she loves Germany and that it is one of the most beautiful countries she’s ever seen. And the she adores the German fans because they are very loyal. Then the screen started to count off; 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1…..

Dionne Warwick
Dionne came walking on stage and she received a big welcome from the whole venue. I think she didn’t expect that. I think everybody agreed that she wore a terrible outfit with too many colours, too many glitters and shoes that just weren’t even suitable for my granny. But I was glad she did all of the favourites, like “Say a little prayer”, “Walk on by” and “Heartbreaker”. Dionne held the mic to the audience to sing the word “Heartbreaker” and everybody sang along. She also asked the audience to sing a few bars of “Never love this way again”. I liked that. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that she stands on stage, focuses on a certain point all the time and rarely looks into the audience. Her stage presence is awful! When she was done, she received a standing ovation from the whole venue. She brought along her own band members so they quickly had to rebuild the stage for Natalie.

Natalie Cole
When it was time for Natalie the big screen counted of from 10 again and she came on and I never listened to her music or even paid attention for that matter but I must say that she did look stunning and she sounded very good. I said to Chantal and Lex that it really was beautiful and pretty! I liked every track she did; Fever ( very jazzy and laid back but amazing timing, it suited her so well) Smile, though you’re heart is aching (wow she pulled that one!), A song for you (a lot different from Whitney’s version but did she impress everyone!) Unforgettable (with of course the screen duet and other pictures from her childhood showing) and I miss you like crazy. She also song another great rocking track but I forgot the name, but when she did that one the whole place was moving. She pulled out the hair band, let her braids hang down and rocked till she could rock no more. She convinced to listen to her music a lot more!

Whitney Houston
When it was time for Whitney, they had to remove all the band material from the stage which was standing there for Natalie and Dionne. The stage now had more space and the band members were seated a bit higher. The screen started to count of again and the crowd went wild. They played a little intro which included a melody line of IEW. Then Whitney’s voice came through “If I told you that I loved you, would you say yes? If I told you that I loved you, would you say yes!!?” and with that the band started and she came (almost flying) from the right side in a beautiful white night gown, pretty wig and looking amazing. The background singers were doing the verse and she clapped her hands to the beat and smiled with gratitude, because she got an amazing ovation. The dress was sleeveless and had split. It kinda looked like the white gown she wore in Radio City Music hall during her 93 tour. The wig kinda looked like the wig from the WWA but a bit bigger, I liked this one better! I could tell that when she wanted to belt her voice had to warm up a bit more but she could deliver a few high notes during that first song, so she had me. At the end of the song she said; “what would you say, (on top of her longs; say YEAH! And the audience gave her the biggest ‘yeah’ ever. I know from her MLIYL tour that when she didn’t receive a big one she would end the song with a short ending but now she had the audience she needed and she kept on going; say YEAH (YEAH!) YEAH (YEAH!) and going faster and faster with the band until we all could no more and so the first song ending with a blast.

Get It Back
She thanked the audience and went into GIB. I liked it because the musical arrangement was a bit different from the live versions I’d heard. I noticed that Whitney really looked ‘bigger’ and especially in that white dress, she showed a true belly haha. But on top of it all, she looked focussed. I think that she really is leaving the ‘temptations’ alone.

You Light Up My Life
When she finished that song, she talked a bit to the audience and read out the posters the fans made and really showed gratitude. When she read out the poster from a few of my friends, (they made a spoof on YLUML) she started to sing the verse of the song and the band joined in. Then she talked about how much she loved Natalie and Dionne and how she and Dionne are really related: “okay, so Dionne's mother and my mother are...”

Saving All Her Love
When she wanted to go into the medley of the first album, I yelled something like “take us back gurrrl” and she laughed really hard and almost mispronounced the year 1985. She sang the medley including SAMLFY, (same arrangement as on the MLIYL tour. When she sang; ‘no other maaaaaaaaaaaaan’s gonna do’ she got this amazing reaction from the crowd.

Greatest Love for the children
The medley continued with GLOA which she dedicated to all children all over the world. The tempo was a bit slower than the normal version. But you could tell the audience loved to hear this song by Whitney. When she sang; ‘I found the greatest love of all inside of me’ she rubbed her hands over her stomach and fans said she was pregnant but I doubt that.

All At Once
Then she went into AAO and I loved the way she sang the first lines of the song. She sang it beautifully pitched. At the end she sang; “more than you know, all at ooooooooonce” and she really brought the house down and impressed everyone.

Fans Give Good Love
I really liked the treat of hearing YGGL. It had a sweet and funky arrangement and I really loved the complete ambience of the supporting audience and Whitney enjoying being on stage and waving, smiling, and singing the song dedicating it to all the people she could look at. At the end she sang the word “love” (in ‘you give me good loooove’) in her falsetto and she held it for a really long time while she was walking from the left and right and repeated that three times.

Tribute to Luther
Than Whitney ordered the band not to start into the next song (don't start yet, don't start yet) and wanted to tell the audience a few things about Luther, how sick he was and how many great songs he released and fell into a song of his spontaneously, I don’t remember what song that was. Suddenly her mic started to give feedback and she made an Olympic body gesture as if she wanted to throw the mic away. It really was funny. The song “Never too much” was a real treat. But I expected to hear the complete song but it was a lot shorter than the original. She ended the song with the word “stop!” and she made this Diana Ross pose like “Stop in the name of love”.

Step By Step - on bare feet!
When she went into “Step by step” she got the whole audience on their feet. She was beaming with joy. Suddenly she walked to the middle of stage and took her beautiful pumps off. Now she was jumping and hyping the crowd up to jump as high as they could and raising their hands. Boy, the whole venue was shaking because everyone was jumping and cheering, singing the words along as loud as possible. I’ve seen Whitney live like 11 times before but I’ve never seen Whitney so energetic and happy as on this night. She was flying across the stage and hyped the whole crowd up. She decided to leave the shoes off.

Wishing & Hoping, not a Dionne's fav
After this song Dionne came back on stage and Whitney stated that this next song was one of Dionne’s favourites. But when Whitney turned to Dionne, Dionne was determinedly shaking her head. It wasn’t one of her favourites and Whitney couldn’t stop laughing, But they both went into the ‘classic’ “Wishing and hoping”. During the song they both didn’t know when they should sing the solo’s and they both now were laughing and making jokingly dances to the words of the song. It really made everyone laugh.

Alfie
Then they both sang “Alfie” and Dionne started out, while Whitney walked to the back of the stage to redo her lipstick while looking into a little pocket mirror. Talking about soul DIVA, haha. Then Whitney joined in on the song while standing facing Dionne. It was beautiful to see both women sing to each other. At the end Whitney was crying after hugging Dionne and said; ‘she really got me with that song…”.

Check in Heartbreak Hotel
Then Whitney asked the audience if they wanted to go to the Heartbreak Hotel with her. She really nailed that song. I still like the track .

It's Not Right, But It's OK
HH hotel smoothly melted into a slow piano version of the INRBIO verse. After singing the verse it went into the beginning of the cd version. The whole audience was singing along. She powerfully delivered the notes.

Gary's old tune
Still barefooted Whitney walked off stage and her brother Gary came to (once again) sing “Change the world”. By now I can’t hear Gary do that song ever again. It gave me a chance to reach for my bag pack and take out some lemonade to drink and I gave Chantal, Lex and DJ also something to drink.

I Go To The Rock
Then Whitney came back in a white silk pants suit with fringes. I had to get used to that. She told the audience how much she loves the Lord and how she was not afraid to admit it. The band started IGTTR and she asked if everyone could go to church with her for a moment. I really loved the ending of the song where Whitney was working the words “I go..to the Rock”. She pitched those with amazing height and Chantal and I looked at each other simultaneously and just gasped for air. She really nailed that ending and blew everyone away.

Whitney & Natalie Go To The Rock
Then Natalie came back on stage and Natalie said; “Whitney could you do that ending again!” and the banded started the ending of the song again and both went straight into some serious vocal exercises! They surely got to that Rock alright!!

This will be...an Everlasting Love!
Life couldn’t be better when the band started the song “This will be”. Both really sounded good together and I loved their version. After the song Whitney referred to it as one of the greatest tracks ever made. Her hairstylist (LaVar) was standing in front of the stage with a hi-8 camera to film her bare feet and Whitney said in a funny voice “hi are you getting my feet in just right? Yeah? Okay she's great”

Whitney Dance!
Then Whitney hugged Natalie and said: “I have a question for you….” And a fan from the audience screamed “I wanna dance!!”. And Whitney said; “have you been to one of the other shows… jah I think you have haha”. It made the whole audience laugh. And the band rolled into the remix version of IWDWS. Suddenly Whitney was making some cool dance moves which I’ve never seen her do. Her nephew came on stage with her to bring the house down in a cool dance scene.

But the crowd really loved it when the tune of HWIK came on. She held the mic into the audience to sing the ‘how will I know’ parts. And she roared when she did the note to ‘how will I knoooooooooooow’ at the bridge of the song. Everyone cheered for that. The atmosphere was great!

The Song
When that song was over she wanted to dedicate the next song to her mother. She beautifully started IWALY. Sweetly high pitched she delivered the beginning of the song. The crowd already started with ‘and IIIIAAIIIAAII’ and Whitney pulled a face because it really was off key haha. Whitney held her finger in the sky and gestured that it should sound like this: ‘and IIIIIIIII….” She perfectly sang that part. She sounded beautiful when she sang the second verse. But I could tell she had to give it her all to get those higher notes out. But she convinced the whole audience. When she sang; “but all above this I wish to you love……” she walked to the back of the stage to take a sip of tea, refresh her face with a towel, redo her lipstick again with the little pocket mirror, take a sip of tea again, and refresh her face. Then she walked back to the mic and rose her arms to the sky, dropped them and sang “and IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII….” and succeeded to get an amazing ovation from the crowd. Lex was standing next to me and couldn’t hold his tears anymore. This truly was too good to be true. At the end she really hit some amazing high notes. After the song the band played the song’s outro while Whitney thanked the audience and waving goodbye. She did the famous Whitney kneel bow.

That's What Divas Are For
When the crowd begged for more the three divas came back on stage to sing ‘That’s what friends are for’, suddenly the press was there to take some pictures. Everyone now was allowed to take pictures without a flashlight. Whitney changed her pants into a dress but the top was the same. She held the note to ‘that’s what friends are foooooooooooooooor’ as if it was the last time she could do that note. I was just blown away. After this encore the three ladies hugged intensively and thanked the crowd with gratitude.

In an overall impression I think that Whitney gave her all during this concert, convincing everyone to have a good time and seemed more focussed than ever. After the show I spoke with Charlotte Gibson and she said a new album will soon be recorded and that she was glad that Whitney was back after such a dark delay after the Christmas CD.