The Temptations & The Four Tops - Au-Rene Theater, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale, Florida — March 29, 2026

Review by Robert Corich

There are some concerts where you know before the first note is played that you are about to take a trip back in time. Put The Four Tops and The Temptations on the same bill and, quite frankly, you don’t need much of an invitation.

And what a great venue to host such a pairing of legacy acts. The Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts proved an excellent setting for an evening of Motown classics, with the added bonus of an amazingly friendly and welcoming staff. From the moment you arrived, there was a genuine warmth about the place that seemed entirely appropriate for a concert built around music that has brought people together for generations.

This was Motown night in Fort Lauderdale — and judging by the reaction from the audience, there were very few people in the building who needed reminding of the words.

The Four Tops were first up, opening with Baby I Need Your Loving before launching into a remarkably well-balanced set that included Bernadette, It’s the Same Old Song, Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over) and I Believe in You and Me.

There were some interesting choices too, with Still Water (Love), Keeper of the Castle, a rather unexpected but entertaining Mack the Knife, and Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got) sitting alongside the familiar favourites.

And then came the big ones.

Reach Out I’ll Be There, Standing in the Shadows of Love and, finally, I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) had the place singing at full volume.

Actually, singing along doesn’t really do it justice.

This audience seemed to know every word of every song.

It was almost as though the Four Tops had arrived with their own backing vocal group — except the backing vocal group was several thousand people sitting in the theatre!

Of course, there is an unavoidable reality with these legendary Motown acts. The Four Tops are now one original member plus three, and The Temptations aren’t much better in that respect. The line-ups that created these recordings are long gone, and anyone buying a ticket expecting to see the groups exactly as they appeared in the 1960s is going to have to adjust their expectations.

But here’s the thing.

The songs are still bloody brilliant.

And when the lights went down again and The Temptations took the stage, it was clear that this was going to be less a history lesson and more a celebration.

Opening with Overture 2025 and Hello Young Lovers, they quickly moved into Get Ready and The Way You Do the Things You Do, before piling on the Motown classics with Ain’t Too Proud to Beg and Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today).

The Temptations’ presentation has always been about far more than singing. There’s the choreography, the movement, the slick presentation and those beautifully arranged harmonies — all part of the Temptations DNA.

I Wish It Would Rain and Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) brought the mood down a notch, before Can’t Get Next to You kicked things firmly back into gear.

But for me, the absolute highlight of the entire evening was Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.

That bass line, those dark, brooding textures and that unmistakable opening instantly transported me back to 1972. This is a song that was always more than simply another Motown hit — the original album version was an epic, sprawling piece of musical theatre, allowing the atmosphere to build and build before the vocal eventually arrives.

Hearing it performed live again was a real thrill.

If I’m being greedy — and I probably am — I just wished they’d let it run.

I wanted the whole journey.

I wanted that magnificent 1972 album version stretched out and allowed to breathe, with the band settling into that hypnotic groove and the song becoming the sprawling masterpiece it was on record.

Instead, just as I was really getting into it, it was over.

Please, please! — give us the full version next time!

Still, even in its abbreviated live form, Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone was the moment of the night for me.

Then came Try to Remember, Stay, before the song that almost everybody in the building had been waiting for.

My Girl.

And yes, the place went absolutely bananas.

It’s difficult to imagine how many millions of times that song has been played around the world, yet when those opening notes arrive, it still has the ability to make an audience react like they are hearing it for the first time.

Treat Her Like a Lady provided another energetic finish to what had been an exceptionally enjoyable set.

There is something rather special — and perhaps increasingly poignant — about seeing these names still out there on the road. We have lost so many of the great voices and performers from the original Motown era that the surviving members are effectively custodians of a musical heritage rather than simply members of another touring band.

And that is probably the fairest way to look at tonight.

Don’t compare them too harshly with the original Four Tops or the classic Temptations line-ups. You can’t recreate 1965 in 2026.

What you can do is take those songs, put together a capable group of singers and musicians, add a little choreography, turn up the volume and give an audience the chance to relive some of the greatest popular music ever recorded.

And that’s precisely what happened in Fort Lauderdale.

The most telling thing wasn’t who was or wasn’t standing on the stage.

It was the audience.

Young, old and everything in between, they sang, clapped, danced and responded to practically every song as though these records had never left their lives.

For a couple of hours, the years disappeared.

The Four Tops and The Temptations may now be very different versions of the groups that changed popular music forever — but on this evidence, they still know exactly how to put a smile on an audience’s face.

And credit where credit is due, the Broward Center and its wonderfully friendly staff helped make the whole evening that much more enjoyable.

Motown may have been born sixty years ago, but judging by the Fort Lauderdale crowd, it certainly isn’t dead yet.

And if you want proof, just listen to that audience singing every damn word.

Oh, and next time, please give me the full Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.