On 24th June I was lucky enough to see a legend! - see this extract from CityLife review by Marissa Burgess on Friday, 25 June, 2010
"Al Green / Michael McDonald
MEN Arena
June 24, 2010
Woah, yeah! Anyone unsure whether Al Green can still cut it 35 years into the biz and at the almost pension-able age of 64 would be easily convinced after tonight’s performance.
Wooing the ladies with long stemmed red roses, frequently crying ‘Manchester I love you’ (and really sounding like he means it - yes we know he’s says that to all the cities but let us have our night) and touching the tips of outstretched fingers - he’s such a flirt.
A frisky one too; one minute he’s laid out on his back, the next on his knees and before we know he’s moving suggestively towards the mic stand.
Anyway, to the music: Michael McDonald of Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan fame opened the night’s proceedings in a more of a special guest than support act capacity. If you think you don’t recognise the name think again, there’s much to recognise here in a set of middle-of-the-road bluesy-ness.
But however MacDonald rocked it, when Green showed up after the interval there was something much more magical at play. Strolling out from the back of the stage suited, booted and sporting shades and white gloves he crooned straight into L.O.V.E., proving that grand soul voice hasn’t tarnished with the years.
There are plenty of highlights here to take away, of course there’s the iconic Let’s Stay Together and elsewhere the rousing Simply Beautiful.
In addition there’s a medley of the musicians that were his contemporaries or those that inspired him with snatches of Otis Redding’s Sitting On the Dock of the Bay and The Four Top’s I Can’t Help Myself, though it would have been nice to hear Green belt them out in full.
Green left the stage without returning for an encore but after the sheer energy of his performance by the close of play he probably really did need a bit of a lie down. Magnificent all the same."
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