The first time I saw Chic, which was at Glastonbury 2013, I initially thought they were good, but wondered why they were playing so many covers. Then it clicked, Nile Rodgers collaborated on Get Lucky by Daft Punk, Let’s Dance by David Bowie, he produced Like a Virgin for Madonna… and I realised that he was playing his own material, albeit written/produced for other artists. He is clearly a prolific genius with the midas touch.
The manager of a popular Liverpool band quipped on facebook that Nile has made an entire career out of one riff. But when a genius like Bowie, a hit machine like Madonna and an artist the calibre of Daft Punk decide to collaborate with someone, you know they’ve got something special about them.
He also comes across as a very genuine, nice guy who’s passionate about what he does.
But of course nobody goes to see Chic for any of the above reasons – they go to hear a crowd-pleasing – career defining set of hit after hit, delivered by a top notch band, and maybe have a bit of a dance – in short they want to party – and at tonight’s sold-out Echo Arena gig, that’s exactly what we got, and then some!
No obscure B-Sides, no “here’s one from our new album”, just the songs you know and love.
Le Freak is arguably their best known hit, but instead of finishing with that, they finished appropriately enough with “Good Times” which Nile mentioned is his favourite of his songs, written for Sister Sledge and course later spawned “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang – one of the first popular hip-hop songs. Tonight the band alternated between the two songs, whilst invited audience got up on stage.
It was a truly spectacular start to the 15th Liverpool Music Week – Tonight’s gig will live long in the memory!
Look out for more of our Liverpool Music Week coverage all next week!
