Effortless Al Green Cracks Himself Up

Darting out of the darkness at stage left and striking a pose the second the spotlight hit his blinding white suit and sunglasses, the Rev. Al Green galvanized Saturday night’s Wiltern Theatre crowd before he sang the first note. The next 15 minutes were a vocal tour de force, of course, as the veteran soulstar-turned-gospelstar reached deep into his stylish bag of tricks, always managing to keep something up his sleeve. ‘Twas all so effortless, Green couldn’t keep from cracking himself up.

And if you wanna know how serious it can get Green--who’s been a commercial and critical success since he gave up secular music (sort of) 10 years back--fired into his first big pop hit, “Let’s Stay Together” and took off into the audience, where he was nearly mobbed by adoring female fans.

The rest of the set was devoted to steamin’ fatback gospel-funk that was virtually indistinguishable from his string of pop hits save for the lyrical content, and to bestowing long-stemmed red roses to the ladies closest to the stage. Impressed? After 60 minutes (no more, no less), Al Green was gone like a cool breeze.