Boyz, Oh, Boyz Boyz Ii Men Thrilled The Crowd With Its Romantic Trademark Harmony

Boyz II Men Sunday, Aug. 13, The Gorge

TLC canceled, Montell Jordan was nowhere to be found and one hour after the scheduled showtime, the stage at The Gorge was empty.

But all it took was one a cappella note from “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye” and none of that mattered.

The sold-out Boyz II Men concert at The Gorge amphitheater Sunday was still money well-spent. Since Jordan arrived more than an hour late, headliner Boyz II Men opened for itself. And whether the singers were passing out red roses during “I’ll Make Love to You” or training the audience to sing the dumm-dumm-dah-dahs to “Motown Philley,” Boyz II Men proved with princely charm why it is one of our favorite rhythm and blues groups.

The group performed with a live band to the light of dazzling fireworks, but it was the trademark harmonizing that kept the crowd on its feet.

Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris switched off singing lead vocals, both drawing plenty of screams. Meanwhile, Michael “Bass” McCary would step forward and hypnotize the crowd with his deeper-than-Atlantis voice.

Boyz II Men sang a series of slow songs from the new album “II” and the already classic “Cooleyhighharmony.” Then, just when it seemed like the show was getting congested with ballads, Boyz II Men lit the house on fire singing “Motown Philley.” The energy in the crowd was intoxicating, it wasn’t uncommon to see someone inspired into a dancing frenzy. And then, almost as soon as it started, Boyz II Men flipped the bedlam back into a quiet storm with its finale, “End of the Road.”

By the time Boyz II Men finished, Montell Jordan showed up and was ready to perform, unfortunately. As the encore to Boyz II Men, Jordan’s show was a good time to go for a potty break or just plain go home early and beat the traffic. Admittedly, Jordan did have the crowd bouncing like a pan of popcorn, when he performed one of the summer’s club favorites, “This Is How We Do It.” But other than that one song, despite decent singing and good choreography, Jordan made for good walking music and not much else.

TLC canceled its part of the show due to the illness of one of the band members.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo