Diana Ross’s show tonight opens with two career retrospectives. The first, a lengthy video segment, includes footage throughout the decades, from Motown to the modern day. The second is far grander. As the house lights go down, the Manchester-based Hallé Orchestra, as well as Ross’s band, launch into an instrumental medley of her biggest hits. There’s a rambunctious brass and woodwind section, the glorious swell of strings and four enthusiastic backup singers side-stepping to the music. Then, the woman herself, shuffling on to the stage in a glittering dress as she launches into I’m Coming Out.
The opening of this show is relentless: Ross may be 81, but she barely gives herself or the audience time to catch their breath as she blasts through Baby Love, You Can’t Hurry Love, Come See About Me and Stop! In the Name of Love. “More excitement,” she says between songs. “Here we go!”
Another less qualified performer may have found themselves dwarfed by the number of musicians on stage, but even with some off-kilter sound levels, Ross more than holds her own. Her voice, while perhaps not as pristine as it once was, is still strong, and for the m ost part she sounds fantastic, even if she leaves the final key change of Chain Reaction, which is given a lively arrangement by the orchestra, in the hands of her backup singers. Her voice shines during her rendition of Billie Holiday’s Good Morning Heartache, the delicacy of her performance seeming to shrink the arena into something far more intimate.
You might think that things would dip during the section focused on Ross’s 2021 album Thank You, but these songs are each cut back. Before too long she’s back with the hits: Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To) seamlessly transitions into Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, a two-hander so euphoric it should be the finale.
Instead, Ross ends with an extended version of Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and an encore of Thank You, a conclusion that’s not as explosive as this lively show deserves, but nonetheless feels fitting. After all, it’s easy to feel grateful that Diana Ross is still so good.
