LOS ANGELES (Johnny Gill Fans Website) - It's a good thing
New Edition kicked off its summer reunion tour after Memorial Day; otherwise the fashion police would have had a field day with the group's whited-out motif.
At the Universal Amphitheater in Universal City, Calif., on Saturday (June 29), the second date of a summer tour that sees the R&B/new jack swing pioneers rehearsing for a much larger 20th anniversary jaunt in 2003 featured Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, the group's five-member backing band, and the stage itself decked out in all white. Thankfully, that's where the excess ended.
Gone are the NBA-like theatrics and over-the-top production and stage props of the group's last reunion tour in 1996-97, replaced with something altogether simpler: the music.
New Edition hit the stage with "Word to Your Mutha!" from Bell Biv DeVoe's 1991 effort WBBD -- Bootcity: The Remix Album and went straight for the jugular. An onslaught of hits followed, some in their entirety, some in medley form, and 20 years of group and solo hits smoothed out on an R&B tip with a pop appeal further solidified the group's place in the boy band hall of fame.
"Y'all ready to go back to '83?" asked Bivins before the group launched into the heart of the set: "Candy Girl," "Popcorn Love," "Mr. Telephone Man," "Lost in Love," "Is This the End," "Count Me Out," and "Cool It Now," the latter two curiously absent from the group's last tour. "Mr. Telephone Man" suffered little due to the absence of Bobby Brown, who opted out for this tour, but the prepubescent high notes of "Candy Girl" and "Popcorn Love" proved too large a vocal feat for Tresvant to pull off (you try hitting notes at 34 you recorded at 14!).
Whether the show suffered at the hands of recycled dance moves is debatable. On one hand, the group's fallback onto choreography it has been employing throughout its career provided a nice touch of familiarity. On the other, whipping out a few fresh new steps couldn't have hurt. No one in the audience seemed to mind either way, as the customary moves set to "If It Isn't Love," which closed the 17-song set, were largely mimicked throughout the amphitheater.
The group did attempt to modernize a few of its hits. "Hit Me Off," from its 1996 reunion album Home Again, hosted a rollicking segue into the rhythm section of Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair"; and Tresvant's "Sensitivity," part of a solo interlude that included NE offshoot hits "My, My, My" from Gill and "Do Me! " from Bell Biv Devoe, borrowed freely from Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner."
But in the end, fans of New Edition didn't need contemporary on this evening. They needed nostalgia. When the group's 20th anniversary album drops in 2003, with or without still-undecided participant Brown, they'll have an earful of contemporary. This time around, they just wanted the Old Edition.
New Edition set list:
1. "Word to the Mutha!" (Bell Biv DeVoe)
2. "Crucial"
3. "You're Not My Kind of Girl"
4. "Hit Me Off"
5. "Candy Girl"
6. "Popcorn Love"
7. "Mr. Telephone Man"
8. "Lost in Love"
9. "Is This the End"
10. "Count Me Out"
11. "Cool It Now"
12. "When Will I See You Smile Again?" (Bell Biv DeVoe)
13. "My, My, My" (Johnny Gill)
14. "Sensitivity" (Ralph Tresvant)
15. "Do Me!" (Bell Biv DeVoe)
16. "Can You Stand the Rain"
17. "If It Isn't Love"
