Review: New Edition throws an old-school party, seems to keep getting better with age

Forty years after its breakthrough album “Candy Girl” paved the way for modern boy bands, New Edition kicked off night two of its “Legacy Tour” with Keith Sweat and Guy Friday at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

Midway through the brief DJ set between New Edition’s opening acts — New Jack Swing pioneers Guy and Sweat — a woman in the row behind me shouted, “Ain’t no party like an old-school party, ’cause an old-school party don’t stop!” While cliché, the statement aptly describes Friday’s show.

Since the other members of New Edition reunited with Bobby Brown in the mid-2000s, the group’s set, production, sound and audience has grown (and improved) extravagantly. When I first saw New Edition at what was then called Cricket Arena (now Bojangles Coliseum) in 2007, there were times I couldn’t tell what song they were singing because the sound was so muddled. By 2012, the production was much improved at the same venue.

But Friday’s show at Spectrum was a huge spectacle from start to finish, with a female dance troupe, live band, DJ, costume changes, and videos from the ’80s and ’90s mixing with graphics on multiple screens that flanked the multi-level stage. Guy and Sweat benefited from the same production level (minus the full live band), along with their own troupe of male and female dancers and a trio of backing vocalists that did double duty for both acts.

Sharing much of the production made the changeovers quick and seamless, so much so that the crowd barely had any down time to run to the bar or the restroom. The house lights did not go up from the time lead opener Tank took the stage until New Edition had sung its last note. While it’s not unusual for a DJ to keep the crowd entertained between acts, the one who mixed things up after veteran R&B singer Tank closed with his cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” sparked a giant dance party, with the crowd singing along at full volume in the dark to songs like “Da Butt” and “Mo Money Mo Problems.”

Guy — the trio consisting of famed producer/musician Teddy Riley and brothers Aaron and Damion Hall — may not have had the pop crossovers of New Edition, but the audience knew all the words to R&B hits like “Wanna Get Wit U” and “Groove Me.” The now-TikTok-famous “I Like” was accompanied by clips of amateur dancers performing the viral dance.

“It’s hard up here when you’re 50,” Riley said between songs, then admitting he’s actually older, at 55, but noting that the trio looks (and moves and sounds) great. The audience overwhelmingly agreed. Damion Hall even performed half the set shirtless.

Sweat’s set took a more grown-and-sexy approach as he performed hits like “I Want Her,” spoke of his love for Hennessy, and dropped the night’s only f-bombs. He ended his set with “Nobody,” wearing a silk red suit while flanked by dancers in see-through black catsuits.

It was after 10 o’clock by the time New Edition rose from under the stage wearing long yellow jackets and fedoras. The group performed the first songs — including Johnny Gill’s solo smash “Rub You the Right Way” — without Brown, who would eventually emerge to chants of his name for “My Prerogative” before exiting briefly again while the group sang post-Brown hit “If It Isn’t Love.”

At 54, Brown isn’t the oldest of the group (that’s Gill at 56), he’s still the biggest solo star of the sextet. While he didn’t do as much heavy lifting as the others and isn’t as physical during the dance segments, his voice sounded in good shape when he took the lead on songs like “Mr. Telephone Man” and solo hits like “Roni.”

That’s one thing about a New Edition show. You aren’t just getting a medley of ’80s teen pop like “Candy Girl,” “Cool It Now” and “Popcorn Love.” Ralph Tresvant — who carries himself on stage like Prince, shirt flowing open in sparkly black pants — performs a sultry “Sensitivity” backed by scantily-clad dancers. Brown breaks out his biggest hits. Gill performs “My My My” solo as Ricky Bell, Michael Bivens and Ronnie DeVoe prep backstage for Bell Biv DeVoe hits “Poison” and “Do Me” late in the show.

While ticket prices have certainly spiked since that 2007 show at Charlotte’s old arena on Independence Boulevard, the packed house at Spectrum got its money’s worth from start to finish, with all four acts proving that some things do improve with age.