Nile and Rodgers and Chic at Museum Gardens, York – review

In 2017 Nile Rodgers headlined the Glastonbury Festival to huge acclaim, proving how prolific and influential Rodgers has been on popular music in terms of musician, songwriter and producer.

Every summer since – Covid lockdown aside – Rodgers has returned to these shores with his band to deliver shows that are full of familiar classic hits guaranteed to make you want to dance and sing yourself into a frenzy.

Nile Rodgers and Chic live at Museum Gardens York on Friday (July 4) (Image: Asa Medforth/Viking Photography York) Rodgers’ ethos seems both simple and successful – give the audience what they want to hear.

On Friday (July 4), he made his first visit to York and the scenic setting of the Museum Gardens for the second night of this year’s series of concerts.

The crowd for Nile Rodgers and Chic live in Museum Gardens, York, on Friday (July 4) (Image: Andy Hughes) Rodgers took to the stage around 8.45pm dressed in a gold suit and flanked by his two singers who both wore complementing sparkly gold outfits and launched straight into a salvo of Chic disco floor-fillers – Le Freak, Everybody Dance, I Want Your Love and Dance, Dance Dance. If this opening didn’t succeed in making your feet and body move then, sorry, but it was pulse checking time.

Four further songs that Rodgers co-wrote with his Chic bandmate Bernard Edwards followed. I’m Coming Out and Upside Down were huge hits for Diana Ross had Audrey Martells take the lead vocals. Kimberley Davis then took the lead for Sister Sledge’s He’s the Greatest Dancer and We Are Family.

Nile Rodgers and Chic live at Museum Gardens York on Friday (July 4) (Image: Andy Hughes) Before the audience to catch their breath Rodgers moved on to two Madonna numbers that he produced and played on – Like a Virgin and Material Girl.

Throughout the show Rodgers was content to provide occasional backing vocals but his mastery of that unique “chucking” guitar sound that makes his playing instantly recognisable was a joy to experience.

Rodgers was his usual talkative self unashamedly dropping the names of the numerous famous artists he has worked with, of his chart successes, and the awards he’s won.

Nile Rodgers and Chic live at Museum Gardens York on Friday (July 4) (Image: Asa Medforth/Viking Photography York) The David Bowie songs Modern Love and Let’s Dance (both incidentally from Bowie’s highest selling album) and the Daft Punk numbers Get Lucky and Lose Myself to Dance all emphasised the impact Rodgers has had on music over the last fifty years.

This scope of this influence was further amplified with the inclusion of Duran Duran’s Notorious, Sheila B Devotion’s Spacer and Beyonce’s CUFF IT which had involved Rodgers either producing or contributing guitar.

Rodgers dedicated the Sister Sledge song Thinking of You to his late friend Bernard Edwards and images of Edwards played out on the big screen during the song.

Nile Rodgers and Chic live at Museum Gardens York on Friday (July 4) (Image: Asa Medforth/Viking Photography York) The band was of stellar quality, in particular the funky bass lines of Jerry Barnes and rocksteady drumming of Ralph Rolle. Rolle’s call and response working of the audience during Let’s Dance built the excitement up to fever pitch.

Chic’s Good Times brought the show to a close but not before Rodgers broke out the riff and provided the rap from the Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight.

It was a breathtakingly good performance that took us on a musical journey across five decades of unforgettable music.