Sheena Easton in Atlantic City Review
9 to 5 Singer Stages her Sugar Walls for a Week at the Hilton Casio
Apr 8, 2009
Scottish singer Sheena Easton rode onto the world music scene with breakout single “9-5 (Morning Train)” back in 1981. Since then she’s gone through various transformations in her pop career, which included a handful of top ten hits as well as duets with polar opposites Kenny Rogers and Prince.
Still looking great, at nearly fifty years old Easton welcomed the crowed gathered at the Hilton Casino Resort in Atlantic City wearing a classy white pant suit. Most of the audience, taking a break from a night of gambling, were probably old even when Easton was climbing the charts.
“Who’s here to hear some 80’s hits?” a bubbly Easton asked as she stepped into the spotlight. After some hearty cheers, she said with a smile “Good, cause that’s all I got. After the 80’s I ain’t got nothing”.
U Got The Look And The Laughs
Raising laughs from the audience, Easton set the tone for the night. Billed as a sex kitten later in her career, and especially after teaming up with Prince, Easton was surprisingly funny. She took great pleasure in poking fun at herself and her status as an aging pop starlet by feigning back aches after making sexy poses during songs like “Strut”.
Before breaking into a medley of “U Got the Look” and “Sugar Walls” she joked about her new diet that consisted of absolutely no exercise, large amounts of alcohol and worrying about how, at 49, she was going to pull off her “80’s sexy songs”.
She told that audience that she had decided that “Unlike Cher, who is doing her fourth farewell tour” Easton would play the sexy 80’s songs for one year only then fade back into pop obscurity. “You’re witnessing history here people!”
For Your Eyes Only
While many in the audience would have been hard pressed to name any of Easton’s hits, besides “9-5 (Morning Train)” her set included classic 80’s tunes including “We’ve Got Tonight” a track she recorded with Kenny Rogers, “The Lover in Me”, “Telefone (long Distance Love Affair)” a song that she said was older than cell phones, “Almost Over You”, as well as her James Bond theme “For Your Eyes Only”.
At the end of her set, Easton joked about how this would normally be the time when she would run off stage, quickly change into exactly the same outfit but in a different colour and then after much cheering for an encore, run back out and pant her way through a couple extra tracks.
But, she said, since people were anxious to get back out to the gambling area, she would skip all the nonsense, pretend to run off stage, come back and play an encore. After an exaggerated moment, where Easton pretended to be out of breath from her imaginary run, she sang a medley (“Old people love medleys”) consisting of inspirational tracks for these difficult economic times including “Lean on Me” among others.
Sheena Easton may not have had a hit since the end of the 1980’s, but she still knows how to put on an entertaining and lively hit-filled show. And with the 80’s revival in full swing, now is the time to see her perform her early hits once more.
Her stint at the Hilton in Atlantic City runs until April 10. After that she embarks on a small tour that includes dates in Las Vegas and British Columbia, Canada.
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