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"At 72, the Queen of Soul has been a royal mostly in repose, laying low over the past decade; canceled shows and reports of ill health haven&amp;apos;t been encouraging. But with news of a major LP nearing completion, Aretha Franklin&amp;apos;s two-night run at Radio City Music Hall in New York City &amp;#x2014; a make-up for dates postponed in January &amp;#x2014; felt like a comeback, albeit a low-key one.\r\nThe Greatest Singer of All Time: Aretha Franklin\r\nLow key for a queen, that is. On the first night, after a fanfare by her big band (led by longtime collaborator H.B. Barnum and featuring an 11-piece brass section), Franklin strode out in a lipstick-red off-the-shoulder gown and a fur stole, which she tossed onto the Hammond organ console. What followed was an uneven set that often felt like a private party, complete with Facebook-y slide show, rambling shout-outs to colleagues, a lengthy joke about a dog that ate Jimmy Choo footwear and, periodically, incredible singing.\r\nFranklin introduced &amp;quot;Say a Little Prayer&amp;quot; as &amp;quot;a tune by Mr. Burt Bacharach &amp;#x2014; thanks for the million-seller!&amp;quot; With lead vocal parts delivered by her backing singers (a five-member chorus led by emeritus soul accompanist Fonzi Thornton), its unusual structure gave Franklin a chance to ramp up. Her voice has thinned a bit, but ramp up she did, unfurling jazzy, gospel-style vocal runs. It was followed by solid versions of &amp;quot;Angel&amp;quot; (her 1973 hit co-written by her sister Carolyn) and &amp;quot;Hooked on Your Love&amp;quot; (from Sparkle, her 1976 collaboration with the late Curtis Mayfield, who she described as &amp;quot;the black Bach&amp;quot;). But it wasn&amp;apos;t until she dug into her 1967 barn-burner &amp;quot;I Never Loved a Man The Way That I Love You,&amp;quot; swooping and soaring across octaves, that you could fully hear the Aretha of yore: fierce, tender, indomitable.\r\nThen, six songs in, she was gone. The band riffed off a Stevie Wonder song, brought out three able-bodied go-go dancers, and laid into an extended version of Pharrell&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Happy,&amp;quot; with the emcee urging the audience to dance. Pardon me? Why in hell should we be dancing to a half-baked cover of the year&amp;apos;s most overplayed pop jingle when we came to hear the Queen of Soul? Thankfully, Aretha reappeared before there was too much time to ponder that question, this time in a sparkling white gown that signaled it was gospel time. &amp;quot;Old Landmark,&amp;quot; the rafter-rocker from Franklin&amp;apos;s 1972 landmark Amazing Grace, turned Radio City into a Baptist church, Aretha calling the spirit with impressive force, kicking off her shoes to pad the stage barefoot, and launching into an extended testimonial section. &amp;quot;My name is Franklin; I come from a prayin&amp;apos; family!&amp;quot; she declared, sharing a tale of receiving a grim medical diagnosis. &amp;quot;A few years later,&amp;quot; she continued, &amp;quot;I went back for my CAT scan, and they said, &amp;#x2018;what we saw in the X-ray before, it ain&amp;apos;t there no more!&amp;apos; Can I get a witness?!&amp;quot;&amp;#xA0;\r\nShe got many &amp;#x2014; the crowd, whooping and clapping, was old enough to be familiar with such scenarios. Sure, the show was too brief; it had sound problems, skipped a huge number of classics and petered out with a perfunctory reading of &amp;quot;Respect.&amp;quot; Franklin didn&amp;apos;t preview her forthcoming set, a reported collaboration with Babyface and Andre 3000 overseen by her old friend Clive Davis. (Aretha covering Adele&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Rolling in the Deep&amp;quot;? We&amp;apos;ll take two, please.) And the gospel interlude was a reminder that the long-stalled documentary on the Amazing Grace LP remains, 40-plus years after the fact, in limbo. And yet: in the presence of Aretha Franklin and her still-monumental voice, ultimately, one can only give thanks."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/aretha-franklin-stages-a-low-key-return-at-radio-city-music-hall-20140616>