Features
Diana Does Detroit
The tour has been getting raves from the fans who actually bought tickets, but so far, not one show has come even close to selling out.
There were gaping sections of unfilled seats at the Palace of Auburn Hills for the reunion that featured two Supremes – Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence, who were in the Motown group after Ross left in 1970. The crowd was generously estimated at 10,000, according to Detroit-area newspapers. That’s about half of the arena’s concert capacity.
The lengthy show, however, didn’t fail to impress fans with its seminal, feel-good Motown hits.
The repertoire opened with “Reflections” while images of civil rights and anti-war demonstrations appeared on the video screens and continued through a greatest hits list of “My World is Empty Without You,” “Come See About Me,” “Back in My Arms Again,” “Baby Love,” “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “Love Child.”
Payne and Laurence each got solo time during the concert, but Ross also sang a number of her solo hits without the Supremes.
Friends and family rubbed shoulders in the front row with packs of rowdy girlfriends and Motown colleagues, The Detroit News reported. Esther Gordy Edwards (the original Supremes manager and sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr.), as well as Maxine Powell, Motown’s famed etiquette teacher, were in the audience.
The Return To Love tour has been out for a week and there are more then 20 shows to go before the outing wraps August 8 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
Even though the show – and Ross’ voice in particular – has received glowing praise in the media, fans are not clamoring to buy tickets. So far, the cheap seats have sold well, but even in Motown, “the arena was still pocked with gaping streaks of empty seats,” the Detroit Free Press reported.
A quick check of ticket availability for upcoming shows revealed that choice seats are readily available for every city on the tour. Tickets for the June 22 concert at the Philips Arena in Atlanta are sold out only at the cheapest level – $41 – while pricey floor seats were plentiful.
It was the same story at the Ice Palace in Tampa, where the show stops June 24. In Fort Lauderdale, $40.50 seats are still for sale for the June 25 stop at the National Car Rental Center. If you want the expensive seats, let’s just say there are plenty to choose from.