POP CAPSULES : O’JAYS: STEAM HEAT
The O’Jays’ show Friday at the Beverly Theatre started out as an energetic but conventional soul revue, complete with 10-piece, black-tied “orchestra” and synchronized dance moves. But when singer Eddie Levert caressed the face of a female fan who approached the stage during the ballad “When a Woman,” steam began to rise in the packed house. Then, when he burst across the stage letting out a piercing wail, you could feel the sexual energy shoot through the crowd.
From that point on, the largely adult audience was out of control, putting on a display that would humble even the most hyped-up teeny-bopper scream-fest, as the trio (original members Levert and Walter Williams and 10-year veteran Sammy Strain) ran through its treasure house of classic Philadelphia soul.
Phyllis Hyman opened the show with a passionate display of Latin-tinged jazz-soul in the same vein being mined by the far less interesting Sade.
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