Then he broke into a survey of recent dances made viral by teens on Vine and Snapchat: the Milly Rock, the Hit Dem Folks, the Dab. During the down-home numbers, he turned his back to the crowd and waved his hands in the direction of the singers, a slightly comic invocation of the Baptist choir director’s showily precise control.
Cradling the microphone stand near the lip of the stage, he wiggled his feet like James Brown and drew miniature scallops with his hips, then galloped from one side of the stage to the other, like a sanctified Springsteen. He wore white pants with black racing stripes, a long black shirt, and, around his neck, a neatly knotted red bandanna.
He is short-five feet five on tiptoe-and has friendly features: sleek eyes with penny irises, arched eyebrows, a mouth that rests in a grinning pout, taut balloons for cheeks. & B., hip-hop to arena rock, and he accentuates this fact by offering audiences a flurry of accompanying bodily references.
Franklin’s music is rife with recognizable influences, from traditional Southern gospel to R.
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During “I Smile,” a bouncy, piano-propelled anthem to joyful resilience against life’s troubles, Franklin punctuated the chorus with a rhythmic series of shouts: “I smile”-“Yes!”-“Even though I’m hurt, see, I smile”-“Come on!”-“Even though I’ve been here for a while”-“Hallelujah!”-“I smile.” The theatre had the grandeur of a cathedral: blood-red velvet curtains framed the stage golden ceilings, patterned with blue-and-purple paisleys, soared over vaudeville-era balconies and plush seats. When I first saw Franklin perform live, last spring, at the newly renovated Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, he stood at center stage, spotlit, rasping out preachy interjections whenever his singers paused for breath. Photograph by Brent Humphreys for The New Yorker Never one to slow down, Franklin will host the 34 th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards on March 29 and will be back as the host of BET’s popular music competition show, Sunday Best, when the program returns in the summer.įor more information on Kirk Franklin, please visit (seated) blends secular sounds with an uplifting devotional message. This year the festival, which was launched in 2018 in conjunction with Live Nation Urban, will feature Fred Hammond, The Clark Sisters, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Travis Greene, VaShawn Mitchell and Kelontae Gavin. In addition to the “Long Live Love Tour,” fans can see Franklin headlining the 2 nd Annual Exodus Music & Arts Festival on May 26 in Irving, TX. The tour will kick off in Austin, TX and make stops in 25 other major cities including, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit and Houston. The album, which is Franklin’s 13 th studio offering, features the hit single, “Love Theory.”įollowing the release of the Long Live Love album in May, Franklin will embark on the “Long Live Love Tour” beginning on July 11. Thirteen-time Grammy ® winning artist, songwriter and producer, Kirk Franklin, brings the “Long Live Love Tour” to the Fox Theatre in The District Detroit on Sunday, August 4 at 7:30 p.m.Įvery ticket for this show includes a CD copy of Kirk Franklin’s new album, Long Live Love (available May 31).įranklin will release his highly anticipated new album, Long Live Love, on May 31, 2019.
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