From the archives: When Aretha Franklin came to the Triangle, she showed why she was still the queen
This interview was published in The News & Observer May 19, 2016, before she performed at the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham. The review from the May 20, 2016, concert follows.
Aretha Franklin died Aug. 16, 2018, at the age of 76.
Aretha Franklin is one of the greatest singers of all time. But she does not, alas, have the best batting average for shows in the Triangle. Six times in the past 11 years, The Queen of Soul has booked concerts here – only to call them off five times after tickets went on sale.
The most recent one came earlier this year, when Franklin cited winter weather as the reason for postponing her Jan. 28 show at the Durham Performing Arts Center (to the consternation of many). But it’s been rescheduled for Thursday night at DPAC as part of a brief mini-tour. And once again, it’s sold out, so hope springs eternal.
The 74-year-old Franklin arrives in Durham on an upswing, still aglow from her incredible performance at last December’s Kennedy Center Honors show for Carole King in Washington, D.C. President Obama was in the audience, moved to tears by Franklin’s house-shaking rendition of “(You Make Me Fee Like) A Natural Woman.”
We spoke with Franklin on Monday afternoon by phone from her tour bus, which had just left Detroit for Durham. The conversation covered everything from road food to the upcoming biopic of her life that is about to start production.
Q: What’s the hardest thing about being on tour?
A: This is just a little mini-tour, four dates beautifully spaced, and it’s just great. I don’t really tour anymore. But the hardest thing is there’s no Bob Evans (restaurants) on the route! They have a turkey and dressing that I really, really like. If we can’t find a Bob Evans, the second one to go to is Cracker Barrel. I love the Cracker Barrel. Their chicken and dumplings, for sure.
Q: What do you cook when you’re at home?
A: Well, oxtail soup. I make that at home, and it’s really great. I have some foods coming out this fall or early spring, a line I’m putting out, and one of my key things will be chicken and dressing. It’s not on the website yet, but it will be. We’re finalizing that.
Q: Are there any updates on who will play you in the biopic about your life?
A: The team will be in Detroit by the end of this month, straight outta Compton and straight into Detroit. And I’ll give you a clue about the actress in the first position: Her initials are JH. J-Hud. Yes, Jennifer Hudson. She was delighted with the news.
Q: When you’re out and about in public, do you ever get people coming up to you and asking you to sing something?
A: Not really. Sometimes they’ll come up and ask, “Are you Aretha Franklin?” I’ll say yes, and then it’s, “No you’re not.” “Yes I am.” “No you’re not.” “O.k., then I’m not.” Then it’s, “Are you really Aretha Franklin?” Once or twice somebody on the phone has asked me to sing. “Sure, I’ll sing ‘Respect’ if you want to give me a monetary adjustment.”
Q: It’s been nearly two years since your last album, “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics” – is there a new one in the works?
A: We are just finalizing my recording plans. We should have something on the market by September, certainly no later than January. One of the artists I want to record with is George Benson. New producers. Gonna take a new direction.
Q: “Diva Classics” closed with a cover of a song that Prince wrote, “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Did you ever meet him?
A: No, we never had the occasion to meet, unfortunately. His death was just shocking and stunning, really shocking. God bless.
Q: When you look at the state of popular music nowadays, does it ever seem like soul is being paved over?
A: Oh, definitely not. Uh uh. Soul is cultural and will be around forever. Like Stevie (Wonder), always. Usher does some nice things. Jennifer (Hudson), of course. Ledisi…
(At this point, Franklin gasped a bit.)
Oh no, I was doing my nails and my nail polish just fell on the floor of the bus – all over the carpet! Oh, I’m gonna pay for that. It stained the carpet. Where were we?
Q: Was that Kennedy Center Honors show as great for you as it was for everyone who saw it?
A: What a marvelous night that was, just magnificent. It was very rewarding to have the audience appreciate you to that degree, particularly in my semi-retirement. I was stunned to see the audience response, and the President. I had intended to ask him why he was so moved when I was at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but we did not get a chance to speak. I’ve heard the President sing, too. His singing voice is not bad.
Q: Five of your shows down here have been canceled over the last 11 years. Since you’re in the bus on the way here, are we good for this one happening?
A: We’re on the way. Unfortunately we could not come before because of inclement weather. It was horrible and terrible out on the highways. There were buses stuck for five or six hours, waiting for help with no food. Last year, we got stuck on the highway in a storm like that, and it was terrible. We were trying to get from New York to Cleveland and had to stop in Pennsylvania, could not go further. You couldn’t even see a car length in front of you. It was just too bad. I hated to disappoint the people of Durham. But we are on the way now, and we’re gonna bring it.
Concert review
Aretha Franklin came up singing gospel before becoming a pop star, but that doesn’t mean she ever really left church. Thursday night found her onstage at Durham Performing Arts Center, which felt like it should have been outfitted with pews by the end of her two-hour sermon … er, performance.
This was the second Triangle show Franklin has played since 2005, out of seven bookings. But all the cancellations and postponements were pretty much forgiven from the moment she took the stage, making an entrance fit for a queen. After a few minutes of instrumental vamping from the 20 or so members of the accurately named Aretha Franklin Orchestra, her master of ceremonies preceded the Queen of Soul’s imminent arrival with the sort of introduction you hear for champion boxers.
“She holds 19 Grammys; the first female vocalist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed her the greatest singer of all time ... Ladies and gentlemen ...
MISS
ARETHA
FRANKLIN!”
And out she strode in a gold-sequined dress, dropping her fur coat to a standing ovation from the audience. Franklin never directly mentioned her most recent no-show back in January, but the first song was “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” – and yeah, we were.
Franklin recently turned 74, an age when you’d expect a voice like hers to be at least half-gone. Not even. True, the quartet of backup singers (featuring her cousin, Brenda Corbett) were on prominent display and handled a lot of the routine passages to save the star’s voice for when it counted. But Franklin can still let loose and induce waves of ecstasy, building you up before dropping you way, way down.
She also displayed abundant sass throughout, putting a hand on her hip and shimmying during “Baby, I Love You” and teasing the crowd when familiar riffs came up by asking, “Sound familiar?” Still, the set list went deeper than Franklin’s last DPAC show in 2012, including “Share Your Love With Me” and a couple of straight-up church-revival numbers from her 1972 gospel landmark “Amazing Grace.”
Really, though, everything was about the spirit. Franklin was flat-out testifying by the end of “Ain’t No Way” (which inspired the woman seated next to me to howl, “Diva! Diva!”). And “Chain of Fools” felt like we were at a tent sermonsomewhere.
Franklin took a mid-set break that did not appear to have been planned, a somewhat awkward quarter-hour that the band passed by having almost everyone play a solo (including the bassist). Franklin appeared right after the drum solo, announcing that she’d bitten down on something and lost a tooth. Another break happened when Ken Weiss from UNC-Chapel Hill’s music department appeared onstage to present Franklin with one of the university’s Artistic Achievement Proclamations.
Then it truly was time for church with “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the one song where Franklin sat at the piano and played herself. She flat out caught the fever with an extended and very churchy call-and-response outro in which she recounted a medical scare and a miracle cure. No wonder even “Freeway of Love” turned into “Hallelujah!” by the end.
Of course, the show closed with the obligatory “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (accompanied by a ballet dancer) and “Respect,” at which point she was still nailing everything and projecting all the way to the back wall. She literally danced offstage at the end.
A natural woman, indeed.
This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 10:19 AM.