The Tony! Toni! Toné! Reunion Tour in Baltimore Created Memories To Last A Lifetime
Photo Credit: David “Odiwams” Wright
Talk about a way to usher in Fall!
As the old saying goes, “you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone”, and the absence of Tony! Toni! Toné! on the musical scene was one that cut pretty deep. To every 90s music aficionado, it was much to our surprise when Raphael Saadiq let the cat out of the bag earlier this year that he was reuniting the band for a much-needed reunion tour. Tuesday night, September 26th was a love affair that I unequivocally didn’t want to end with a love that I hadn’t seen in over 20 years. This was the moment that I would see the original members of “The Tonyies” doing what they do best during the “Raphael Saadiq Revisits Tony! Toni! Toné: Just Me & You Tour” live from the Modell Lyric Performing Arts Center in Baltimore.
Starting at about 8:10 PM, the show began with an intro that showed some memorable moments of 90’s culture while the horn section played, then a spotlight appeared and we saw D’wayne Wiggins, Saadiq, and Timothy Christian Riley walk down the steps of their three-tiered stage to their rightful spots behind their favorite instruments. With a musical catalog just so DAMN good, they wasted absolutely no time to dig right in and give the people what they wanted. “It Never Rains (In Southern California)” was literally the second song of the night, and immediately all the feeling of nostalgia took over. For anyone who is a serious music lover, the express train of hits continued full steam ahead from there.
With the show lasting approximately two hours in running time, they had the ability to load the bases with a little bit of everything, deep cuts, chart toppers and even solo material. The inclusion of “Baby Doll,” “Born Not To Know,” and their very first single “Little Walter” covered their debut album, and was really something for the day-one fans. Although I have to pay homage to where it all started, it was the subsequent THREE albums that created the music from their career that I was really there for.
The “Sons of Soul” and “The Revival” albums were mainstays in my house growing up, so to hear live iterations of “Gangsta Groove,” “Tonyies! In the Wrong Key,” “My Ex-Girlfriend,” “Castleers,” and “If I Had No Loot” sent me over the moon. While they were in this pocket, my only wish is that they would have added “House Party (I Don’t Know What You Come to Do)” in that section, because that song still GOES! Speaking of the live aspect of this tour, the sheer musicianship was absolutely insane! First and foremost, all three Tonyies are maestros on the keys, guitar, and bass respectively, so you know they were going to have a supporting band who had to come with it, and let me tell you, the band was super tight. Out of all the things that make me enjoy a concert, it’s live instrumentation that brings everything home for me. With a nine-piece band giving the extra added funk to the classics, and even some renewed life, your soul had no choice but to move.
Big brother D’wyane’s set of “Slow Wine” and “Whatever You Want” had almost every couple up out of their seats slow dancing and every single lady relishing in her own groove. Just as everyone was really starting to get lost in the music, we were thrown into an unrequested intermission. I wasn’t ready for the music to stop though!
Once we returned from the 10-minute break, Raphael took center stage and ran through a gamut of songs that pretty much made him a household name. “Lovin’ You,” “Be Here,” “Still Ray” were all given some love by the audience, but when the chimes at the start of “Ask Of You” played, the gloves were officially taken off because he wasn’t playing fair at that point. His stroll down memory lane continued as he touched upon some material from his days in Lucy Pearl including “You,” “Good Love,” and of course “Dance Tonight” where the vocals from female lead LaToya London very much so rivaled those of Dawn Robinson’s.
Photo Credit: David “Odiwams” Wright
Just as this roller coaster ride was starting to come to an end, there were still a few surprises left, namely “the big three”. A video montage of John Singleton played on the video wall right before “Just Me and You” kicked in, and as that faded out, we ever so subtly glided into this long, but very necessary intro to one of their biggest hits, the ode to a long lasting love affair, “Anniversary.” The recorded version of the song is iconic for all the right reasons, and the way that they performed it nailed it! This is still one of the most beautiful string arrangements I’ve ever heard and the extended version puts into harmony what that intense love feels like inside when words just can’t explain what that mood is.
After that overload of emotions which had everyone in attendance on a musical and spiritual ethereal high, we were rejuvenated with “Let’s Get Down” and my personal favorite song from the band, the undeniable dance hit, “It Feels Good.” I can honestly say that this was a night of music that I will never forget, and since the Baltimore stop was only the third of the tour, the show will only get better with time, so I just might need to find a ticket to one of their Oakland shows because I just KNOW they are going to show all the way out in their hometown. My only gripe with the tour, was the fact that we had to lock our phones away in the Yondr cases, which forces you to stay immersed in the show, which I get, but I would have totally loved to have been able to capture some memories on my phone to be able to cherish for years to come, as my memory starts to fade.
If you haven’t gotten your ticket, hurry up and do so because we’re not sure when something of this magnitude may happen again, and you don’t want to miss this.
Photo Credit: David “Odiwams” Wright
