“I haven’t seen dancing like that since 1976,” Lionel Richie told a fan giving it his all as the pop titan performed to an adoring audience on Tuesday night.
Opening the Hampton Court Palace Festival, a series of open-air summer concerts set in the spectacular 3,000-seater Tudor courtyard, the 68-year old Richie also held nothing back as he grinded and glided to the heavy funk strut of his Commodores hit Brick House. Dressed top-to-toe in white and a sequin bomber jacket, he proved that the king of slushy balladry can still get his groove on when the crowd calls for it.
Richie’s career has spanned a half century. And, while he’s perhaps best known for the glittery charm of his Eighties output,...