In a performance pulsating with a rejuvenated energy, Detroit R&B star Kem charmed a capacity crowd Friday night at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre to open a two-night homecoming stand.
It was more than another polished display of his biggest hits in what has become a summer tradition on the riverfront. This was also Kem’s first Detroit show since he announced last month he was returning to his roots as an independent artist, departing Motown Records after 23 years with the iconic label.
Two days after his 58th birthday, with breezes off the Detroit River on a lovely July night, Kem worked the Aretha stage with seemingly renewed purpose. He combined suave, seasoned showmanship with a loose demeanor, playfully interacting with the crowd and treating the night like a reunion with familiar friends.
The singer-songwriter has been gigging at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre since its old days as Chene Park, and there’s a special personal triumph built in to that summer ritual: The venue is 3 miles up the river from the spot where Kem, once homeless and addicted, chose to pursue sobriety 35 years ago this week.
For all the concert tradition, Friday saw a new, relaxed version of Kem. Onstage, he was an established star who seems increasingly comfy in his own skin, quoting scripture while speaking of his contentment with life and family.
“You’re listening to love 101,” he told the audience early on in an 80-minute, female-friendly set that mingled simmering slow jams with jazz-touched ballads and sensual bedroom fare.
The 2010 hit “Share My Life” has become Kem’s concert showpiece, and Friday it got a gorgeous rendition graced by stellar sax and guitar solos from members of his nine-piece backing ensemble, all clad in white like Kem himself.
He reminded the crowd it was the same song he’d performed to his now-wife, Erica, as she walked the aisle at their 2019 Maui wedding.
Erica and Kem’s mom were among the family members he pointed out in Friday’s crowd, along with his eldest daughter and her boyfriend — whom Kem teased like a vigilant dad. (“What’s your credit score?” he jokingly asked the young man at one point.)
And there was another special guest at the amphitheater, as Kem alerted the audience. Somewhere in the crowd was the fabled, enigmatic disc jockey Electrifying Mojo, whose eclectic late-night radio in the ’70s and ’80s made him a Detroit legend. The two had met backstage before the show, but in honor of Mojo’s famously anonymous persona, Kem declined to single him out publicly.
Friday’s concert was peppered with crowd-pleasing, old-school callbacks like that. The band whipped up covers of tunes by Shalamar, Cheryl Lynn and Luther Vandross, while Kem’s own “Find Your Way (Back in My Life)” was transformed into an Al Jarreau-style workout before he isolated several men in the audience to sing along solo with amusingly mixed results.
The Afrobeat-laced “Give My Love” — Kem’s first single on his recently revived Kemistry Records — closed the set with a lively line-dance performance led by New Jersey’s Kenny J.
But the night wasn’t quite over. As his band cleared out, Kem returned to the stage for a special commendation by a pair of local officials. Detroit City Council member Mary Waters and mayoral communications director Vickie Thomas presented framed proclamations formally declaring July 23 — the singer’s birthday — as Kem Day in Detroit.
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kem serenades a sellout crowd at the Aretha as he’s honored by Detroit city officials
Reporting by Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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