Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
Nile Rodgers and Chic
<\/b>Enmore Theatre, October 23<\/b>
\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605
<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
Opening a show with your biggest hit might indicate the artist has either misplaced confidence that they\u2019ll be able to top it later, or they\u2019re accidentally playing the setlist backwards.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nile Rodgers and his band keep the energy going for the full 90 minutes.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Rhett Wyman<\/cite><\/p>\n Not so for guitarist, producer and composer Nile Rodgers. Rodgers has written, performed and produced such a vast number of hits that kicking off with Chic\u2019s 1978 disco smash Le Freak <\/i>is in no way a risky gambit.<\/p>\n It starts the first of two Sydney shows with the kind of high energy typically reserved for a killer encore. Remarkably, that energy is maintained over the next 90-plus minutes.<\/p>\n The dapper Rodgers, gobsmackingly great vocalists Kimberly Davis and Audrey Martells and a crack team of six musicians serve up a slew of Chic classics to keep the crowd dancing, including I Want Your Love<\/i>, Everybody Dance<\/i> and Chic Cheer<\/i>.<\/p>\n With excitement through the roof during the first 20 minutes, peaking too early seemed a possibility, until Rodgers starts dishing out the jaw-dropping tunes he\u2019s had a hand in creating for other artists.<\/p>\n Nile Rodgers is a charming and good-humoured presence throughout,<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Rhett Wyman<\/cite><\/p>\n The decades-spanning selection includes Upside Down<\/i> and I\u2019m Coming Out<\/i> by Diana Ross, Like a Virgin<\/i> and Material Girl<\/i> by Madonna, We Are Family<\/i> and He\u2019s the Greatest Dancer<\/i> by Sister Sledge, Beyonce\u2019s Cuff It <\/i>and Get Lucky<\/i> by Daft Punk, the latter sending the crowd into raptures.<\/p>\n Rodgers is a charming and good-humoured presence throughout, and when he rattles off a list of considerable accolades between songs, including a recent Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, it seems less like bragging and more like justifiably stating the facts.<\/p>\n The execution of the show is masterful: with pacing, setlist and the obligatory calls for audience participation all expertly delivered in a display of A-grade showmanship.<\/p>\n By the time David Bowie\u2019s Let\u2019s Dance<\/i> and Chic\u2019s Good Times<\/i> show up, the latter morphing into the Sugarhill Gang classic Rapper\u2019s Delight, <\/i>the audience has been whipped up into a state of euphoria, rewarding a visibly moved Rodgers with a well-earned barrage of applause.<\/p>\n Good times? For an artist who can translate his iconic discography into a dance party this joyous, that\u2019s a massive understatement.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n