Centennial Terrace | 8 p.m.

The Temptations
For more than 50 years, The Temptations have prospered, propelling popular music with a series of smash hits, and sold-out performances throughout the world. The history of The Temptations is the history of contemporary American pop. An essential component of the original Motown machine, that amazing engine invented by Berry Gordy, The Temps began their musical life in Detroit in the early sixties. It wasn’t until 1964 however; that the Smokey Robinson written-and-produced “The Way You Do the things You Do” turned the guys into stars An avalanche of hits followed, many of which…”My Girl,” for instance…attained immortality. “It’s Growing,” “Since I Lost My Baby;,” “Get Ready,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep,” “I Wish It Would Rain” … the hits kept coming. The Temptations are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Four Tops
The quartet, originally called the Four Aims, made their first single for Chess in 1956, and spent seven years on the road and in nightclubs, singing pop, blues, Broadway, but mostly jazz — four-part harmony jazz. When Motown’s Berry Gordy Jr. found out they had hustled a national Tonight Show appearance, he signed them without an audition to be the marquee act for the company’s Workshop Jazz label. That proved short-lived, and Stubbs’ powerhouse baritone lead and the exquisite harmonies of Fakir, Benson, and Payton started making one smash after another with the writing-producing trio Holland-Dozier-Holland. Their first Motown hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving” in 1964, made them stars and their sixties track record on the label is indispensable to any retrospective of the decade. Their songs, soulful and bittersweet, were across-the-board successes. “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” a no. 1 R&B and Pop smash in 1965, is one of Motown’s longest-running chart-toppers; it was quickly followed by a longtime favorite, “extraordinary run of instant H-D-H classics. Other Tops hits from the decade included “Ask The Lonely,” “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over),” “Something About You.”

Tickets available at etix.com and the Stranahan Theater Box office (419-381-8851).
Tier 1 Reserved: $65
Tier 2 Reserved: $55
General Admission: $36 (Standing or bring a small chair) / $40 day of the show if not sold out.