The Commercial Appeal - Go Memphis
New Edition coming to Memphis with Charlie Wilson, Jodeci
The Culture Tour — headlined by New Edition and featuring Charlie Wilson and Jodeci — rolls into Memphis’ Fedexforum on Sunday night for one of the more anticipated R&B packages in recent memory. Announced late last year and having commenced in mid-february, the 30-date nationwide tour, presented by the Black Promoters Collective, has been a rousing success among fans hungry for unapologetically nostalgic post-pandemic entertainment.
Here are four things to know before you go.
The lineup: New Edition + Charlie Wilson + Jodeci
Formed in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1978, New Edition — Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Bobby Brown, Ronnie DeVoe and Ralph Tresvant — began an African American boy band modeled after the Jackson 5. The group broke out nationally in 1982 with the release of the infectious single “Candy Girl,” launching a seven-year run of hits from “Mr. Telephone Man” to “Can You Stand the Rain.”
Brown left the band in 1985 for a solo career with vocalist Johnny Gill eventually joining up as his replacement.
After the group split in 1989, the various members would find considerable success as solo acts and as part of Bell Biv Devoe.
Starting in the mid-’90s, New Edition would reunite in various permutations, and over the course of a 45-year career, the band has sold some 20 million albums.
New Edition has a fairly long history performing in Memphis, dating back to their debut in the Bluff City in 1985, where the then-teenagers appeared at the Orpheum. Three years later the group — minus Brown and with Gill taking his place — headlined a show at the Mid-south Coliseum.
It would be nearly a decade before the reunited version of the group — playing as a six-man lineup with both Brown and Gill — brought their Home Again tour back to the Mid-south Coliseum. Although versions of New Edition — usually without Brown — have appeared in the region three more times in the 2000s (in 2002 at Sam’s Town Casino in Tunica and in 2012 and 2014 at Landers Center in Southaven), this will be the first local concert featuring the full six-man New Edition lineup in a quarter century.
Charlie Wilson, aka “Uncle Charlie,” finds his way onto The Culture Tour’s middle slot. The veteran Oklahomabred singer has been on the scene since forming R&B group The Gap Band in the late 1960s with his brothers. In recent years, the 13-time Grammy nominee has also become a touchstone for the hiphop generation, collaborating with Kanye West, Jay-z and Snoop Dogg.
Openers Jodeci, known as “The Bad Boys of R&B,” became one of R&B’S great vocal groups in the ‘90s. The North Carolina combo produced a string of charttopping radio hits, while members K-CI and Jojo also had hits as a duo.
The Culture Tour earns critics’ praise
Critics who’ve caught The Culture Tour have been uniform in their praise of both the production and performances — not just those of New Edition, but Jodeci and Charlie Wilson as well.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s review of the tour stop at city’s State Farm Arena, observed that the concert felt less like an arena tour and more “like (a) sold-out house party.” The AJC’S Ryon Horne noted that it “was rare to see anyone sitting throughout the show, as grown and sexy fans soaked up tracks that ruled the airways for over three decades.”
Headliners New Edition have garnered the most praise. Covering a homecoming concert in their native New England, Boston Globe critic Maura Johnston hailed the group’s TD Garden performance as a “fast-paced, hook-filled set, powering through 25 tracks from their amassed catalogs over about an hour and a half. The six members cycled on and off stage as songs
and costume changes demanded, their dance moves backed up by a boisterous crew who kept the energy level feisty or languorous, depending on each song’s mood.”
Billboard reporter Mark Elibert concluded his review of the Madison Square Garden stop on the tour noting that if the MSG gig was “any indication of how electrifying this tour is, fans waiting in the… remaining cities ... are in for a special night.”
The setlist: New Edition, Jodeci, Charlie Wilson play the hits
One of the reasons audiences have been so enthused is that the acts are unabashedly focusing on the hits and fan favorites. None of the acts have new albums to promote or are looking to dig too deep into their catalog, but rather serving up familiar and much-loved classics.
Jodeci’s 11-song setlist covers all their signature songs from the ‘’90s (“Forever My Lady,” “Stay,” “Cry for You”), while Charlie Wilson offers a mix of material from his recent solo resurgence (“There Goes My Baby,” “I’m Blessed”), as well as some of his early Gap Band favorites (“Party Train,” “Humpin’”).
New Edition’s brisk 26-song set not only packs the best from the group’s catalog — all the way back to 1982’s “Candy Girl” through to 1988’s smash “If It Isn’t Love” and even 1995’s comeback single “Hit me Off — they also incorporate songs from their various solo and post-new Edition projects.
This includes bangers from Brown (“My Prerogative,” “Every Little Step”), Gill (“Rub You The Right Way”), and Tresvant (“Sensitivity”), as well as Bell Biv Devoe (“Poison,” “Do Me!”). The group has even been doing some throwback covers, including The Floaters “Float On” and David Oliver’s “Love TKO.”
Are tickets still available for Memphis show?
Given the strong bill and buzz, tickets for the New Edition: The Culture Tour concert at Fedexforum have sold well, but some good seats still remain.
A few Diamond Premium front section tickets are available, which will set you back $529.50 per seat. A handful of Gold Premium tickets can be purchased for $379.50.
Most of what can be had at this point, however, are upper level seats for $79.50.
Tickets are
Ticketmaster.com. available