ShareSmokey Robinson performing his Legacy Tour at The Utilita Arena Birmingham on Tuesday 8th July 2025.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
In a week that saw the great Diana Ross grace the stage of the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, Stevie Wonder entertaining a sold out crowd in Birmingham it was time for the soul legend Smokey Robinson to take the stage at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Tuesday night as a stop on his tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of his album A Quiet Storm.
The Midlands had been graced with three of the biggest Motown legends ensuring that the Motown legacy is still as strong as ever regardless of the crowd’s age. Smokey Robinson is the very definition of the word ‘legend’. Co-founder of Motown Records with Berry Gory, the owner of over 4000 recorded tracks, two stars on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee to name just a few of his achievements.
Being a man adept at defying age with subtle moves and a voice that showed only some of the wear of his 85 years, the show served as a retrospective for a career spanning more than six decades, during which Robinson had an indelible impact on soul music and was pivotal in shaping the Motown sound.
Robinson made his entrance and opened with his 1981 hit Being With You, as he slow danced with a backing vocalist. Immediately his unassuming falsetto communicated a tenderness of heart. Yet the slight hip movement or wink in the direction of the crowd, and the ladies in the Arena swooned immediately.
Two hits with his Motown group, The Miracles, followed as I Second That Emotion and You Really Got a Hold On Me went down a storm. He spent time on songs that were not sung by him but that were composed by him during his Motown Years. There was a medley of The Temptations songs which included My Girl, The Way You Do The Things You Do and Get Ready which took the crowd on a lovely trip down memory lane and showed quite clearly that well written songs really never go away. It had taken The Temptations to convince Robinson that the late lead singer David Ruffin’s vocals were better suited to My Girl before he agreed to let them record it. The rest as they say, is history.
He also delivered several songs from his 2023 album, Gasms, including the title track. Other tracks from the sexual concept album were I Wanna Know Your Body and How You Make Me Feel. The all round highlight of the night was his flawless and really slowed down, Ooo Baby Baby. The emotion and power behind the song drew the air out of the room by rendering the crowd breathless who quickly recovered to reward him with a standing ovation.
An odd inclusion to the set list was a cover of Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon which given the number of fabulous, enduring songs that have been penned by Robinson, he could so easily have treated the crowd to one of the numbers that he wrote for Mary Wells, The Temptations, The Four Tops and Marvin Gaye.
Between songs he regaled this transfixed crowd with stories from the early days of Motown. At one of its famous Christmas parties, he told the crowd, that a young Stevie Wonder approached him with a song melody that he did not have any lyrics for, thus enlisting his help. He offered to drive Robinson home from the party straight away so that he could get started on the lyrics. That collaboration became Tears Of A Clown, one of the most successful hits for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles.
Finishing his main set with Tracks Of My Tears, there wasn’t a member of the crowd who had remained in their seats. With his high pitched voice still instantly recognisable, in a live setting, Robinson had showed why he was made for these romantic ballads.
For the encore he received yet another standing ovation as he launched into Cruisin’, the hit from the 1979 album, Where There’s Smoke and a cover of William De Vaughnn’s Be Thankful For What You Got.
Robinson is undoubtedly a consummate performer and entertainer who had delivered hit after hit from his catalogue with the signature buttery smooth vocals and delicate high notes for which he has always been known. There are a handful of people still performing R & B in the smooth, elegant style that puts melody and lyrics above groove and beat. Smokey Robinson remains amongst them.
Having sung along to almost every song of the evening, the exuberant crowd was happy to oblige. After all, they were in the presence of greatness.