On the 80th anniversary of the World War II D-Day invasions, another D was in the global spotlight on Thursday, June 6.
“Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central” celebrated the re-opening of the city’s Michigan Central, a former train station that closed in 1988 and fell into a disrepair that Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called “a symbol of our decline” in remarks before the show. Purchased by the Ford Motor Company in 2018 and refurbished for a reported $940 million, it’s now a center for technological advancements in the transportation field, taking the Motor City well beyond the combustion ending.
For Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford the opening of the project was “a dream come true,” hailing how appropriate it was for “the future of transportation to be right here in Detroit, where it was invented.” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer added that “this spectacular building is a monument to our grit, right?”
Thursday’s concert, however — streamed on Peaco*ck with a one-hour special airing at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 9 on NBC — was a monument to the Detroit area’s robust music heritage.
The genre-hopping hour-and-50-minute show, co-executive produced by superstar Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg, brought a cavalcade of hometown heroes to Roosevelt Park in front of Michigan Central, where the rapper was joined by Diana Ross, Jack White, Big Sean Slum Village and gospel greats the Clark Sisters and Kierra Sheard in front of a crowd of about 20,000. And while another local music icon, Bob Seger, was absent, he received a spirited homage from Melissa Etheridge (“Mainstreet”), Fantasia (“Shakedown”) and Jelly Roll (“Turn the Page”), with the three joining forces for an ebullient, if truncated, rendition of “Old Time Rock and Roll.”
“We’ve been invested in trying to rebrand the image of the city and how people see it for a long time,” Rosenberg, who worked in conjunction with the national event production firm Jesse Collins Entertainment, said on Thursday afternoon. Eminem even filmed parts of his 2009 video for the single “Beautiful” in the then-abandoned Michigan Central.
“The challenge was, ‘What kind of picture can we paint here that’s going to be interesting not just locally but nationally? ‘Rosenberg explained. “We wanted to make a compelling program that’s going to interest people across the country, not just people who are familiar with Detroit.
The concert’s lineup, as well as Michigan Central’s riches-to-rags to riches story, was more than enough to do that,” said Dionne Harmon, president of Jesse Collins Entertainment. “When we took this to (NBC) they fell in love with the story and the city, the same way we did.”
That tale was very personal to some of the artist involved, too.
Before the show White — who grew up not far from Michigan Central in southwest Detroit — told reporters about watching the site deteriorate while he was beginning his musical career. “If you’d have asked me then if this place was ever coming back…there’s no way. It’s just too massive a job,” White noted. He also recalled visiting the station as a child and getting a paper Amtrak engineer’s hat, termed the renovation, “just incredible.”
White, of course, was among the night’s musical highlights, playing “some songs that were written a couple blocks from here — including the White Stripes’ hits “Hotel Yorba” and a “Seven Nation Army” that was accented with flames — pushed precariously by a stiff breeze — and pyrotechnics.
Ross, engulfed in tangerine tulle, began the concert her solo hits “I’m Coming Up” and “Upside Down,” as well as “Thank You” from her 2021 album of the same name and the Supremes’ anthem “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Big Sean, following his NFL Draft performance and backed by a full group (Adam Blackstone & the BBE All Star Band), offered a new song, “On Up,” from a new album he said is coming this summer, along with his hits “Blessings and Bounce Back.” Common — who, as a Chicagoan, told the Detroit crowd “we’re cousins” — began a tribute to the late J Dilla with his poem “Didn’t One Know” before Slum Village delivered “Fall in Love” and “Get Dis Money,” the latter with Dilla’s younger brother Illa J. Common joined the troupe — which also paid homage to the late Baatin and Amp Fiddler, for a moving version of “The Light.”
The Clark Sisters, in glittery gold dresses, took “Live From Detroit” to church, joined by the Greater Emmanuel Choir for “Livin'” and “Blessed & Highly Favored” before Sheard (daughter of Karen Clark-Sheard), joined the trio for a powerhouse rendition of her “Miracles” and stuck around for the Clark’s signature hit “You Brought the Sunshine.” DJs Theo Parrish and Sky Jetta, meanwhile, made sure Detroit’s famed techno legacy was represented.
And then there was Eminem — not announced as one of the performers but hardly a surprise as the show-closer. Sporting a grey hoodie, he prowled the stage with D12 groupmate Denaun Porter, backed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, to offer the first live performance of “Houdini,” the Steve Miller Band-sampling first single from his upcoming “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace)” album. He was joined by Jelly Roll for the Aerosmith-sampling “Sing For the Moment” and Trick Trick on that rapper’s “Welcome 2 Detroit,” then finished with a bombastic “Not Afraid,” with fireworks going off overhead as Eminem declared “Detroit, we love you!”
“These things, you never know how they’re gonna turn out, who’s gonna show up and who’s gonna be invited,” said White, who, like Ross and Big Sean, is an alumnus of nearby Cass Technical High School. “When they were first talking about Eminem and Dian Ross and Slum Village I thought, ‘Wow, if that really happens..'”
Slum Village’s T3, meanwhile, called the show, “one of the biggest events Detroit’s ever seen. It’s a phenomenal event. It shows the diversity of Detroit music.”
Fantasia said that “I don’t think I can find the words” to describe being involved with the show. “It means a lot (to be) on stage with some of greats, and the history of this building, the rebirth. I’m honored to be part of it.”
Prior to the concert Ford’s philanthropic wing presented Michigan Central Honors — pieces of original marble from the station — for contributions as global ambassadors for Detroit. They were presented to White and his Third Man Records operations in the Cass Corridor, posthumously to J Dilla and also to Patti Smith, in conjunction with her late husband and MC5 member Fred “Sonic” Smith.
Smith, who was accompanied by daughter Jesse Paris, noted that she and Fred used to sneak into Michigan Central while they were living in St. Clair Shores. “Fred loved the train station, and he would fantasize about it being restored and opened to the people,” remembered Smith, who read Eminem’s 2009 love letter to Detroit during the short ceremony. “He really talked about it quite a bit, so I know that this would have made him very happy. It means something to me that there honoring him, as he should be, and I’m happy to be included with him.”
Thursday’s concert launched 10 days of public tours of Michigan Central. They’re free but require reservations via michigancentral.com.
