Diana Ross review: ‘A magical performance from Motown royalty’

From the moment the Queen of Motown arrived on stage and launched into ‘I’m Coming Out, you knew instantly it was going to be one of those shows where you would know every word of every track off by heart, such is Ross’ influence on the music industry.

The 81-year-old has collaborated with legends such as Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Marvin Gaye, inspired the likes of Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston and Beyoncé, earned countless awards and is rightly regarded as the Queen of Motown – and her show at the Co-Op Live was a euphoric, magical performance from Motown royalty.

The performance had a distinctive Mancunian flavour about it, with the legendary singer accompanied by Manchester’s own Halle Orchestra, who kicked off the performance with an instrumental medley of Ross’s biggest hits before the aforementioned ‘I’m Coming Out’ put everyone inside the Co-Op Live on cloud nine. In a rapid-fire opening, the hits came thick and fast as Ross raced through a cover of ‘More Today Than Yesterday’ and a medley of classics from The Supremes in ‘Baby Love’, ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, ‘Come See About Me’ and ‘Stop in the Name of Love’, leaving the audience utterly breathless.

A rendition of ‘Touch Me In The Morning’ delivered with a lush piano part and Ross’ delicate vocals brought the pace down, but it wasn’t long before the intensity ratcheted up with a performance of ‘Chain Reaction’ that saw the sound of “love love love” reverberate around Europe’s biggest arena.

However, even in the biggest settings, Ross has the unquestionable knack of making cavernous arenas feel like the most intimate settings, particularly on ‘Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)’ as the audience belted the lyrics back to the singer and followed her command to declare, “I am so grateful for all the blessings in my life, for there are many. I am resilient; all is well, and thank you, thank you” – all while the Halle Orchestra shone with a skilled musical display. No matter which direction your head turned, you witnessed some of the best musicianship that you could possibly witness.

Despite being close to seven decades into her career, Ross’ voice still remains in impeccable condition – a testament to her vocal maintenance throughout the years – and the singer’s vocals were particularly impressive on covers of Billie Holiday’s ‘Don’t Explain’ and ‘Good Morning Heartache’ as well as a rendition of ‘Home’ where she hit the high notes effortlessly.

As the first part of the set neared its conclusion, the singer welcomed her daughter Rhonda onto the stage for a silky, smooth rendition of ‘Count on Me’ – written by Rhonda for Ross’ next album – before performances of ‘Just In Case’, ‘In Your Heart’ and ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love’, which was delivered with a lush arrangement.

A third outfit change of the evening quickly followed as a stirring rendition of a ‘Theme From Mahogany’ paved the way for a mass singalong, and Marvin Gaye’s ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ was performed with enough pzazz to charm a dragon, and the duelling saxophone solos were utterly mesmerising. However, the night reached its crescendo with a performance of Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ that saw Ross’ backing vocalists break off for individual solo parts as the singer’s backing guitarist, bassist, keyboardist and pianist traded instrumental solo parts, setting the tone for a euphoric ‘Thank You’ to close out the night with Ross in red-hot form.