Review: Dionne Warwick at Riverside Theatre

Dionne Warwick at Riverside Theatre
Saturday, January 11, 2025

Sometimes there’s a buzz in the room when you’re in the presence of greatness, and when Dionne Warwick strolled on stage in a sparkling gold pantsuit and her trademark dazzling smile, everyone in the Riverside Theatre knew that here was someone special.

At 84 she’s a tad less sprightly than she was, but her voice remains distinctive and wonderful, albeit a little reduced in its sustain, and having grown up with her music on the TV and on my parents’ record player, it felt like a fulfilment of some sort.

Let’s give credit where it’s due: six Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award; inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; 56 singles making the US Top 100, the second-most charted female artist in the US between 1956 and 1999. A mentor to maternal cousin Whitney Houston. She even sang on We Are The World, shoulder to shoulder with Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Ritchie, et al! She’s no slouch.

And she’s still got it, encouraging the enthusiastic crowd to “open your mouth and let some words fall out” or “let it all hang out” as soon as she reached her centre stage stool and launched into her signature tune, Walk On By. Her first #1 hit (on the US R&B charts), it was one of many songs written specially for her by the legendary duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David, several of which followed on the night.

Warwick had an easy charisma, peppering her hits with a smattering of sweet stories and a self-deprecating sense of humour (even teasing out the final notes of I Say A Little Prayer), except when hilariously admonishing us for not following instructions when singing along to What The World Needs Now (“I said repeat that three times—I didn’t say anything about singing love sweet love“).

Her four-piece band—Brazilian percussionist Renato Braz, Jeffrey Lewis on drums, Danny DiMoralis on the bass, and pianist and band leader Andrew Lewis—are as sharp as razor wire, though the drums were mixed a smidgeon loud, sometimes obscuring her singing in the softer moments.

Her entire set was wonderful, albeit a touch light on at 75 minutes, with special mention to If I Want To and What The World Needs Now—the sort of songs, lyrically, the world really needs to hear right now—and the wonderful That’s What Friends Are For.

Taking a night off from rock ‘n’ roll never sounded so good.

SHANE PINNEGAR

Photos by Sheldon Ang