FOLIO
by Laura Janowicz
The Philly trio Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman, also known as Boys II Men, took the stage at the Florida Theatre on April 8, 2010 to a nearly packed house. Naturally with an audience consisting of “BIIM” fans they could do no wrong and I’d like to mention that the audience consisted of not any one age or race, it was surprisingly eclectic. I saw kids that were seven and adults in their retirement years dancing to the hits and having a great time. The music backing the live vocals was previously recorded. With the fabulous acoustic sound of this theater it seemed the musicianship did not give proper justice to the vocals.
By the time they reached their third song, ‘On Bended Knee’, it seemed some of the sound glitches were adjusted. They performed an eclectic set list spanning from their early hits to those of the most recent from their LOVE album just released November 2009 and produced by famed Randy Jackson. The group wooed the ladies in the audience by handing out roses while singing ‘I’ll Make Love to You’, winning the hearts of the young and old female fans. Wanya spoke to the audience about the influence the B2M music had on making babies and that they even thought of themselves as uncles to their younger fans. With their 20 year anniversary coming up this September ‘BIIM’ promised to go back in the studio to produce another CD of hits for their fans.
Song highlights from the night came from some remakes such as Bonnie Raitts ‘Can’t Make You Love Me’ and a surprise performance at the encore of ‘IRIS’ by the Goo Goo Dolls which was a great way for this trio to come to the ‘End of the Road’ of their set in Jacksonville. By night’s end they couldn’t leave without closing with their iconic hit ‘Motown Philly’ which brands the band’s name and image from the 20 year career. As the fans left the theater it was obvious that everyone had a great time.
Follow FOLIO!