Nile Rodgers Brings The Good Times To Blackpool

As the co-founder of CHIC, Nile Rodgers pioneered a musical language that generated chart-topping hits like Le Freak, the biggest-selling single in the history of Atlantic Records, and sparked the advent of hip-hop with Good Times before going on to write and produce hits for Madonna, David Bowie, Diana Ross, and more recently, Beyoncé.

“Blackpool, we have come to party tonight,” Rodgers exclaimed as the two-hour show got under way at the Blackpool Opera House. The show, which read like a list of some of the best dance and funk hits you will ever hear, transformed the theatre into one big disco.

Everybody Dance was the perfect invitation to get the party started as the hits followed one after another. Hearing the stories behind the tracks added a personal touch as Rodgers shared that Madonna won the right to name her successful album Like A Virgin instead of his suggestion of Material Girl.

Singer Kimberly Davis was just as much a part of the show as the rest of the band. Her powerful vocals, especially on I Want Your Love, were soulful and seductive.

Dedicating the Sister Sledge hit, Thinking of You, to the late Bernard Edwards, his partner in CHIC, Rodgers brought a poignant moment to the night’s proceedings.

As Good Times closed a night that many present will never forget, and to paraphrase the Sister Sledge hit, the band and the Blackpool audience were altogether lost in music.