Sing a Song All Night Long with a tinge of reggae: Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire at Madison Square Garden

There's a particular kind of magic that happened when veteran crooner Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F) rolled into town on their "Sing a Song All Night Long" tour and took over Madison Square Garden in New York. For three hours last Saturday, the arena that calls itself home to the New York Knicks belonged to two generations of soul, funk and R&B — and to a sold-out crowd that had come ready to "dance on the ceiling."

Jamaican-born New York resident Esroy Bernard and his friend, Karla Buchanan, were still riding the escalator when the show kicked off.

"We tried very hard to be on time," he laughed afterward — but Earth, Wind & Fire wasn't waiting on anybody.

By the time the pair found their posh lower-level seats, the band was already knee-deep into "Reasons," the R&B hit that was a massive "rent-a-tile," couples-only classic in Jamaica and featured Philip Bailey's soaring falsetto. The song was a staple that usually set the perfect mood for slow dances at fetes and house parties in Jamaica in the '70s — and even to this day.

What struck Esroy first wasn't just the sound. It was the nostalgic feeling in his chest that transported him back to his college party days at UTech in Kingston.

"The feeling was electrifying, totally electrifying," he said, still sounding a little amazed by it days later.

The stagecraft, the outfits, the way the band worked the crowd like old friends — it all added up to something that felt less like an opening act and more like a statement.

"They came to upstage Lionel Richie," Esroy joked, "if there's such a thing."

Only three original members of EW&F remain — frontman Philip Bailey, bassist Verdine White and percussionist/drummer Ralph Johnson — who helped build the band's signature sound five decades ago. The band's founding voice, Maurice White, isn't the one carrying the mic anymore. That job belongs to Bailey now, with his own son sharing vocals alongside him. It would've been easy for something to feel lost in that handoff.

Karla didn't think so.

"He has done a phenomenal job," she said. "He is totally unbelievable."

Then there was "Let's Groove." Esroy tells the story almost sheepishly — how the song hit and his body just moved before his brain caught up.

"I stood up and started dancing in my seat," he admitted, and he didn't sit back down when the people behind him did the same. If anything, he was glad for the company. That's the kind of night it was.

While Earth, Wind & Fire came out swinging, Richie made the crowd wait for him — on purpose. He didn't walk to center stage. He stayed back in the shadows and simply started to sing. Just his voice, floating out over the speakers with "Hello," before anyone could even see where it was coming from.

Karla remembers the exact moment the room understood what was happening.

"That voice alone just sent everybody to their feet," she said.

From there, Richie took the Garden on a tour through his own life story and catalog of hits. There was the Commodores era — the funk-driven grit of "Brick House," the tenderness of "Easy" — bleeding into the solo hits that made him a household name.

"Say You, Say Me" and "Dancing on the Ceiling" hit hard and transported patrons back to the '70s and '80s. True to the tour's title, the whole night built toward one final release, with the full arena singing "All Night Long" back to Richie as if it belonged to them too.

Buried on that same Dancing on the Ceiling album is a song that doesn't get talked about nearly enough.

"Se La," a 1986 track co-written with Greg Phillinganes and widely considered Richie's first true reggae recording. Esroy smiled when he heard the band play the opening notes. It's an upbeat, hopeful song built around the idea that people everywhere are more alike than different.

Richie connected with his Jamaican fans in 2009 when he headlined the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival at the Rose Hall Aqueduct in Montego Bay. Esroy proudly recalled attending the festival. Richie never really returned to Jamaica to perform — or to reggae after that — but his melodies have had a strange afterlife in reggae circles, reimagined and covered by artists who heard something in his songwriting that translated across genres.

Back at Madison Square Garden, Richie gave the crowd more than just music. Mid-set, he drifted over to the piano without breaking stride, and somewhere along the way came a costume change that Karla still lights up describing.

"It was like yellow, black and white — well tailored," she said of the jacket, noting the leather looked as soft as it appeared sharp.

Richie paused more than once to talk and replenish the salt and electrolytes lost under the hot stage lights. He talked about his friend and one-time collaborator Michael Jackson, about the road he'd traveled, and at one point shared the stage, in a sense, with country music legend Kenny Rogers, duetting with him on the big screen on the Richie-penned and -produced hit "Lady."

Esroy couldn't help but think of what Earth, Wind & Fire might do with Philip Bailey duetting alongside footage of Maurice White.

"The technology is there," he said. "That would bring the house down."

Familiar Faces in the Crowd

Looking around the Garden that night, you would've spotted more than just fans. New York Knicks captain Jalen Brunson was there in the building he calls home. Whoopi Goldberg was in the crowd too, close enough that Richie gave her a shoutout from the stage. A cast member from Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City also turned up, along with a couple of Richie's fellow American Idol personalities.

Richie has talked publicly about wanting Motown legend Diana Ross to join him somewhere on this tour — a reunion fans would lose their minds over. It didn't happen in New York.

"I was looking to see Diana walk on stage, but that would be too much for the crowd to absorb in one live performance," Esroy said.

Maybe it will happen somewhere later on the tour. For now, it's still just a hope he's put out into the world.

Eleven Out of Ten

When it came time to sum it all up, Esroy didn't hedge.

"This show is an eleven out of 10 — in totality," he said, his way of saying there was nothing about the night he'd change.

He appreciated, too, that it didn't run late. The show started at 7:30 p.m. sharp and wrapped up by 10:30 p.m., leaving plenty of time for dinner or a nightcap afterward.

Karla kept her verdict even shorter.

"It's a must-see," she said — four words, but she meant every one of them.

The tour keeps moving up the East Coast, with a stop in Atlanta coming soon before heading to the West Coast. Esroy said if he had the chance, he'd go all over again. For anyone who missed the Garden — old fan or new fan, it doesn't matter — that seems to be the whole point: Go find out for yourself.