Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
With an exclusive Martha Reeves & The Vandellas summer gig announcement to make, Getintothis’ Paul Higham gets suitably excited – and primed for a bit of Dancing in Seel Street.
Soul and Motown legends Martha Reeves & The Vandellas have announced an exciting new date at Liverpool’s Arts Club this summer. The R&B icons will hit the city on July 14 for what will surely prove one of the most exciting and anticipated events in the summer calendar.
It is difficult to overstate the impact of the group on popular American culture.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas are best known for their string of hits in the 1960s as part of the thriving and influential Motown scene. Songs such as Nowhere To Run and Jimmy Mack have become timeless classics that simply everyone knows.
Dancing In The Street is perhaps one of the most covered songs of the modern-era. Its legacy was recognised by its recent inclusion in the National Recording Registry, celebrating the song’s historic and cultural significance.
Having reformed in 2010, her live shows have been critically reviewed. What is evident is the passion that Reeves has retained for her performances and her songs. Such are the riches of her catalogue and our own familiarity, it is all too easy to become blasé. Yet Reeves embodies her work, she made the songs what they became and imbued them with her own experiences. That is the real draw.
Undoubtedly exciting it promises to be an intriguing prospect. In her heyday the songs brimmed with barely disguised sexuality, mirroring the primeval heat of a Detroit summer and encapsulating the innocent and carefree urges of a youth untainted by experience.
How will the songs have evolved? Will they retain that unbridled passion? Can she still hit the high notes?
To answer all those questions, and more, you’ll have to get down to the Arts Club in July, and rest assured tickets will go fast. Tickets are available from the Arts Club website.
