A week ago I have visited a concert that was just a perfect Friday night fun - legendary female trio The Three Degrees celebrating 60 years in business and performing in front of their faithful fans. It is already known that black US performers are usually lovingly embraced in Europe, where they are loved, respected and they can always count on loyal support, even when audience back home don't care anymore. The Three Degrees had their golden years in the mid 1970s when they were celebrated as Philadelphia Sound and for a while they looked as greatest new challenge to untouchable The Supremes - when Diana Ross left Supremes, The Three Degrees took over with a list of classic hits like "When Will I See You Again", "Take Good Care of Yourself", "Giving Up, Giving In" and "The Runner" - their popularity in Europe was cemented when Prince Charles publicly claimed to be their biggest fan and the group was even invited on a royal wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 (the only US guests besides Nancy Reagan). As with all girl groups, the trio was constantly changing line up and not one single person stayed constantly, though Valerie Holiday is now the longest veteran in the band.
I was invited by some friends and was thrilled about the night of disco, though a little apprehensive about not being too familiar with their repertoire - shouldn't had to worry because the audience was in such a great mood that the atmosphere was happy even before the ladies came on the stage. I noted that the public that evening was a bit over the hill - but than, who else would be enthusiastic about the big disco hits from 1974 - it didn't matter since everybody was clapping, dancing and having a genuine great time, including me and my friends. The location was place called Q-Factory in the Eastern part of the city and it was big enough to assure audience being close to the stage, quite intimate and fun experience.
The ladies were actually much better than I expected. The current line up includes Valerie Holiday, Freddie Pool and lovely new addition Tabitha King who took over from veteran Helen Scott - they wee all in sparkling dresses, danced to impeccable choreography that we expected from them and even though this was advertised as 60 years anniversary, they sound like a dream. One thing I noticed was how often they would switch their places in the front of the microphone, almost each song they would shuffle their places and someone else was doing the lead. A friend was very impressed with their sassiness and whispered that he always found black ladies being the best singers - I attributed this to simple experience how to slay the public, these ladies are in a business long enough to know every trick how to behave on the stage, how to interact with the audience and how to get over any temporary situations that might occur on the stage (like when blonde Freddie Pool lost her shoe and briefly left the stage, the other two ladies simply continued without missing a beat). On top of it, they sang also other people's hits (as a part of their album "Strategy (Our Tribute To Philadelphia)") so I did not have to worry - everybody was singing and dancing to "Disco Inferno", "Don't Leave Me This Way", "You'll Never Find Another Love" and the legendary Soul Train theme "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" - it was a great evening, everybody had a wonderful time and apparently the ladies are often guests here, because Dutch audience just can't get enough of them.
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