Tina Turner is the Queen!!!
Tina Turner "Live" in Kansas City (picture by Reuters' Andrew Macpherson) 
Tina Turner and dancers at Madison Square Garden 12/1/08 (picture by Kirk Tanter)Rock and Roll though is not Soul nor R/B. Rock and Roll with its' genesis in Little Richard, inspired by a pioneering rocker before rock was given a name, Louis Jordan. The song "Caldonia...Caldonia....What makes your big head so hard" was just one fired up hooks from many upbeat rockers by Louis Jordan in the 40's. Louis Jordan dominated the Billboard charts with hit after hit. To make a long story short, Rock and Roll has evolved
from Little Richard into a lead guitar, head banging drums, and screaming lead singers that has frankly nothing to do with R/B nor Soul music. Rock and Roll has its' own radio format dominated by mostly White Male and Female shouters and groups. None of my favorite six female singers in the aforementioned paragraph would see the light of day on today's current or classic Rock and Roll radio stations. Yes Dick Clark admits soul, hip hop, disco, and R/B acts into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. But never are these genres of music considered Rock and Roll. But you will hear Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Tina Turner on the Classic "Rock and Roll" radio stations. Are we clear here? I will stop here with the definition sgment, R/B and Rock n Roll are different with a seperate audience. I will state though, that Aretha Franklin is the undisputed Queen of Soul, and that Tina Turner is the undisputed Queen of Rock n Roll. Fair enough?
Tina Turner in control at Madison Square Garden (picture by Kirk Tanter)
Tina Turner proved to me long ago that she was the Queen of Rock n Roll. After seeing her "live" for the very first time last Monday December 1st, 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York, I am totally convinced. I will tell Aretha Franklin to her smooth beautiful face and anyone else that Tina Turner is the best female artist that Rock n Roll has ever produced in its six decade history. What made the night so unique and enjoyable, was that ninety percent of the audience were "baby-boomers" in their fifties and sixties. Imagine being part of a crowd of fifty and sixty year old "rock n rollers" screaming, jumping, dancing, and singing Tina Turner songs throughout the night. I happen to be sitting in front of a lady in her late 50's along with four of her girlfriends that broadcast to the world that they were drinking gin and tonic that they snuck into the "Garden". And all of them had New York accents. They refused to shut up all night and partied all night long.
Tina Turner, now 69 years old, did not disappoint anyone that night at the "Garden". If you saw her concert on television during her prime 'solo' days in the 80's and 90's, where her shows are staged with hydraulic lifts suspending Tina Turner twenty feet in the air both on the stage and suspended over the crowd, then you were totally satisfied, as the lifts were present. Tina performed the theme song from the James Bond movie "Golden Eye" where she re-entered the stage stepping through a coiled "Golden Eye" that opened up to thunderous crowd roar, as Tina Turner re-entered the "upper" stage with different attire. Yes there were two stage levels. The upper stage were mostly occupied by four youthful lady "Go-Go" dancers, whom danced in unison for the most of Tina's songs. Tina also had a special re-entry for her "Thunderdome" performance, which was the theme from one of the "Mad Max" film series. The "Thunderdome" outfit was complete with the glistening split dress with ruffled shoulders pads, high hair with headban, high heels (of course), and a fierce Tina Turner look, pictured below.
Tina performs "Thurderdome" (picture by WENN)
The show luminated with fiery flames and cannons blasting off. A greater-than-life show and loud rock and roll music. I have always said, and firmly believe that based on the grooming and artist development mandate that record companies used to do in the pre-80's era, the concert performances of the artists of the 60's and 70's, more often than not, are better than the artists that came up in the post-80's era. The Tina Turner 2008 show was no-exception. The three-hour performance was flawless. And the loud and rumbustious ladies that sat behind me repeatedly could not believe how Tina Turner's legs and body can look as good and 
fit as a 25-year old young lady. Did I mention that Tina Turner is 69 years old? Well she is. And while the "Go-Go" dancers (pictured right) clearly were more active and energetic than Tina for most of the night, during Tina Turner's version of "Proud Mary", the youthful 20-something "Go-Go" girls (picturee right) could not keep up with Tina. As "Proud Mary" jammed during the finale of the Tina Turner revue, both the "Garden" crowd and Tina Turner were fired up and ready to go paaaarty! The Baby-Boomer crowd simply forgot that they were at, or near retirement, that they were suppose to be cool, calm, and collectivly sitting down and applauding. I believe that this elderly "Baby-Boomer" generation -- including Tina Turner -- are refining what middle-age and seniors means. The social stratosphere changed more than we thought in the revolutionary 1960's. Baby-boomers had hands high in the air clapping away. They were dancing, shaking, hollering, whistling, and outright screaming throughout the "Garden". It was a sight to behold. Even a 69-year old Tina Turner showed out on sheer adrenalin along with this awe-inspiring Madison Square Garden crowd. During Tina Turner's version of "Proud Mary", at the point where the twenty-something "Go-Go" girls shake their stuff to a high energy instrumental, Tina joined in and these four fit "Go-Go" girls could not keep up with the 69-year old Queen of Rock n Roll at this fanatic point. Tina seemed to even coach the 21st century "Go-Go" Girls to do the "swim" -- a 60's dance Tina made famous -- along with rhythmic booty-shakin, and the hair flying herky-jerky gyrations that we are accustom to seeing during the "Proud Mary" performance. Tina Turner was in that same rare form we say in the early 70's. However I have to say that the new "Go-Go" girls could not shake a stick at the "Go-Go" Girls back in the day with the Ike and Tina Turner review. If you have not witnessed the Tina's original "Go-Go Girls" here is a taste of them from YouTube below.
Not only did Tina Turner perform an encore performance, but the hydraulic lift was dispatched for a performance of Tina's early 70's solo hit "Nutbush City Limits". The hydraulic lift took Tina Turner 20 feet in the air and out about 20 rolls out over the now crazed New York party crowd. Even Tom Cruise was in high spirits beneath the white hydraulic lift. Tina danced, shook, and even bent her body half-way over the lift's banister (pictured left).While it was a wild enthusiastic show, during the mid-point of the show after intermission, Tina Turner sat down with her background singers and a few acoustic guitarists, and sang a few ballads that included her slower version of the Beatles "Help", a Blues tune, and then got the party back started with the Rolling Stones "Jumping Jack Flash". Her Grammy award winning hit "What's Love Got to do with it" was, of course, well-received. Tina Turner's hit song "Simply the Best" was the performance that permanently ignited the crowd -- never to return to mere mortals -- played about the fifth song in a 20-song spectacular performance.
I thought, one, seeing the concert at Madison Square Garden in New York would assure a
masterful performance by Tina Turner -- and I was right -- and, two, I had never seen Tina Turner perform "Live". The videos of her solo "Live" concerts, and as lead singer for the Ike and Tina Turner in the 60's/70's are simply mesmerizing. I would never thing of changing the channel to anything else. I had also made a promise myself following the death of the R/B multi-octave songstress Minnie Riperton, that I would never miss a performance by one of my favorite artists. I thoroughly regret not seeing Minnie Riperton before she died, and cried like a baby upon hearing the news of Minnie's passing. Minnie had just come back to record after years of dealing with Breast Cancer. Riperton did not reveal to the public that this was her final recording performance for the ages, as from what I understood the cancer spread to the point of inoperablablily. The lyrics in Minnie Riperton's return hit "Memory Lane", clearly stated that she was reminiscing her own life, and at the same time questioning God as to why her life must end so young in her 30's with two young kids and a good marriage. Though I did see singer Phyllis Hyman before she committed suicide, Phyllis had lyrics that were somewhat introspective in "Living All Alone" and "Living in Confusion" that in hindsight, Phyllis had unanswered questions. Phyllis Hyman's show was fantastic. And finally seeing Tina Turner was one of these moments that I treasure, and I encourage you all to see her show, even if you have to go to Europe to see it, as her tour goes there after her current North American tour. This may be Tina final tour for real this time. In fact, I read that Tina Turner was hospitalized the night before this Madison Square Garden concert with a fever and exhaustion. She was given oxygen and the whole nine. Read here from this link http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/category?blogid=7&cat=2105. Tina Turner though said that she had to perform, discarding any discomfort. I think that Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Sly Stone should take notes here, from the undisputed Queen of Rock and Roll: Tina Turner. 
Tina Turner waving good-bye to the enthusiastic Madison Square Garden crowd (picture by Kirk Tanter)
posted by Kirk Tanter at
12/06/2008 07:36:00 pm
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