REVIEW: Good Times all round as super-producer Nile Rodgers rules the stage with CHIC

As the sun set on Jimmy's End Nile Rodgers and CHIC came out to play - bringing with them a plethora of disco hits, twinkling three-piece suits and soul medleys.
By Carly Roberts
Published 1st Jul 2019, 18:27 BST
Nile Rodgers kept the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand all night as the sun set on the Gardens.Nile Rodgers kept the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand all night as the sun set on the Gardens.
Nile Rodgers kept the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand all night as the sun set on the Gardens.

In fact, the hitmakers inspired such enthusiasm from the Franklins' Gardens crowd on Sunday evening that groups of the crowd were left shouting 'one more song' long after all hope had faded.

Disco legend Rodgers took to the stage with his eight-piece band wearing an all-white suit and kicked-off the show with their classic floor-filler Everybody Dance - helped along with the backing of impressive vocalists, Kimberly Davis and Folami.

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From the moment Rodgers and CHIC opened the show they made sure they had the audience in the palm of their hand - holding them there until a rousing medley of Good Times and Rappers' Delight.

The trio were accompanied by an eight-piece band and brought the house down for their hour and a half long performance.The trio were accompanied by an eight-piece band and brought the house down for their hour and a half long performance.
The trio were accompanied by an eight-piece band and brought the house down for their hour and a half long performance.

They clearly have a large and very loyal fan base from the 1970s and beyond, something they have earned over 40 years in the music business. And, by the end of the show, the Gardens was a heaving mass of people dancing, with everybody getting down to 40-year-old hits including Le Freak and some of Rodgers' many collaborative works with Bowie, Diana Ross, Sister Sledge and Madonna.

Rodgers has been on tour since March 2018 and arrived in Northampton after a short stint in the Netherlands. But despite his emotional admission to the crowd that he had beaten a terminal-illness prognosis, it's clear the godfather of disco is not intending to slow down any time soon.

Instead, he said, he has made it his mission to collaborate on as many tracks as possible and gave a nod to support act, DJ Sigala, whose track, Give Me Your Love, he featured on with John Newman.

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But it was Get Lucky, the Daft Punk collaboration with Pharrell Williams, which proved to be the highlight of the night with new and old audiences.

Even the absence of an encore failed to dampen the spirits on a special evening in St James.

Related topics:Gardens