From Motown to mobility, Thursday night's (June 6) show “Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central” covered many bases of the Motor City's storied musical heritage — as it reopened a historic landmark returning from desolation.
The event featured hometown heroes like Eminem (who co-executive produced the concert with his manager, Paul Rosenberg), who sent the crowd into a frenzy when he took the stage for a four-song mini-set that included The Live debut of his new single, “Houdini” and a collaboration with Jelly Roll.
Diana Ross, Jack White, Big Sean, Slum Village and gospel greats the Clark Sisters and Kierra Sheard were also on hand to celebrate the revamped Michigan Central. The former train station on the city's southwest side had been closed since 1988 and became what Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called “a symbol of our decline” as it fell into disrepair. Ford Motor Co. bought the building in 2018, spending $940 million to turn it into a center for advanced technology development in transportation and other fields.
That meant a lot to White, who grew up in the same neighborhood. Before the show, he told reporters that he would ride his bike to the area during the 80s and saw it get worse as he started his music career. “If you asked me then if this place would ever come back… no way. It's just a really huge job,” White said, calling the renovation, “just incredible.”
It was also personal for Patti Smith, who was in attendance to accept a special pre-show Michigan Central Honor — along with White, Slum Village and the late J Dilla — for contributions as global ambassadors for Detroit. Smith, who shared the honor with her late husband and MC5 veteran Fred “Sonic” Smith (her daughter Jesse Paris accompanied her), said Advertising sign that, “Fred loved the train station and would imagine it restored and opened to the world. He actually talked about it quite a bit, so I know this would make him very happy. It means something to me that I'm honoring him, as I should, and I'm glad to be with him.”
During the Honors ceremony, Smith also represented Eminem by reading a 2009 love letter he wrote to Detroit declaring his love for the city.
The show itself — which was streamed on the Peacock and will be turned into an hour-long NBC special at 7 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday (June 9) — was a nearly two-hour party that celebrated the city and its musical heritage, but with a global perspective. “We've been invested in trying to redefine the image of the city and how people see it for a long time,” explained Rosenberg, who worked in partnership with Jesse Collins Entertainment. Advertising sign before the show. “The challenge was, 'What kind of picture can we paint here that will be interesting not only locally but nationally?' We wanted to build an exciting program that would interest people across the country, not just people familiar with Detroit.
Rosenberg added that he and Eminem used the saying “as goes Detroit, so goes the nation” — from a 1942 essay by Arthur Pond in The Atlantic — “as a framework… all these ideas of how the city is being looked at not just locally but nationally to help frame the programme”.
Starting with a Motown legend didn't hurt, of course. Ross, dressed in a mass of tangerine tulle, kicked off the night with a rendition of her solo hits “I'm Coming Up” and “Upside Down,” as well as the title track from her 2021 album. Thanks before finishing with a towering take on the Supremes anthem 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough'. “It's so good to be home,” Ross said before leaving the stage. “I love you so much.”
Big Sean also shared the love, hailing Michigan Central as “a gem out of the rough” while delivering a three-song set that included the new “On Up” — a new album coming this summer, he told the crowd. — as well as the hits “Blessings” and “Bounce Back,” accompanied by Adam Blackstone and the BBE All Star Band. One Detroit legend who wasn't there, Bob Seger, was however greeted by a trio of Melissa Etheridge (“Mainstreet”), Fantasia (“Shakedown”) and Jelly Roll (“Turn the Page”, wearing a Detroit Tigers baseball cap) before the three joined to close the set with a stripped-down but exuberant version of “Old Time Rock and Roll.”
“I'll be Forever Soul, but there's a little stone inside of me,” Fantasia said Advertising sign, citing the name of her new company. “I wanted that challenge.”
Common was an out-of-towner in the house — though, being from Chicago, he told the Detroit crowd “we're cousins” — as he belted out “Didn't One Know,” his J Dilla ode. Slum Village also gave props to the late Baatin and Amp Fiddler as the duo performed 'Fail in Love' and 'Get Dis Money', the latter with Dilla's younger brother Illa J and both with the band Blackstone. “We will always represent the legacy,” said the group's T3 before the concert. Common joined Slum Village to close out the segment with a rocking performance of “The Light.”
The Clark sisters, in sparkling gold dresses and joined by the Greater Emmanuel Choir, carried the 20,000 or so fans into the church with “Livin'” and “Blessed & Highly Favored” before supporting Sheard – daughter of Karen Clark-Sheard – in a dynamic. version of her “Miracles”. Sheard remained on stage for the Clarks' hit 'You Bought the Sunshine', a stunner even if the sky was dark.
A pair of DJs, Theo Parrish and Sky Jetta, represented Detroit's storied techno heritage, while White brought in rock and the White Stripes with “some songs written a few blocks from here” — debuting a new band lineup two keyboards on “Hotel Yorba” and a “Seven Nation Army” that literally caught fire as (programmed) fireworks and flames erupted to punctuate the anthem.
And while Eminem — who shot parts of the video for his 2009 single “Beautiful” at the then-abandoned Michigan Central — wasn't billed as a performer when the show was announced, few were surprised that he closed the night. Joined by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the hooded rapper performed the live debut of “Houdini,” the just-released first single from his upcoming The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) album (July 5), followed by “Sing For the Moment” with Jelly Roll, “Welcome 2 Detroit” with Trick Trick and a bombastic “Not Afraid,” which was followed by a brief fireworks display.
“The timing worked out for us luckily very well because we just dropped a single – that wasn't always the case when we agreed to jump,” noted Rosenberg. “We weren't sure we'd be releasing new music. It happened to turn out great and it became an opportunity to perform a new song.”
Dionne Harmon, president of Jesse Collins Entertainment — which also produces the Super Bowl halftime show and a variety of awards shows, among other events — said Advertising sign that the artists' universal appeal finally opened the door for “Live From Detroit” to be a streaming and network special. “Everybody knew this wasn't just a Detroit story or an American story, but a global story,” he said. “So we started looking for a partner who could help us tell this story. We've done a lot of work with NBC in the past. when we took it to them, they fell in love with the history and the city, just like us.”
The performers, meanwhile, conceived the idea of telling this story together. “These things, you never know how they're going to go, who's going to show up and who's going to be invited,” said White, who attended the same high school as Ross and Big Sean. “When they were first talking about Eminem and Dian Ross and Slum Village, I thought, 'Wow, if this really happens…'
“It's one of the biggest events Detroit has ever seen,” gushed Slum Village's T3. “Even the other artists that I just met today, like Jelly Roll, which was really cool… We're having a good time out here and it's just a beautiful event.”
