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Diana Ross’s Central Park Concert set for DVD!

It took her a lifetime to get there and she wasn’t going anywhere!

Any Diana Ross fan worth their salt knows what that’s all about.

The year was 1983 and Miss Ross was giving a free concert in New York’s Central Park. One big problem: a rainstorm.

Diana didn’t want to let anything rain on her parade and told the crowd: “It took me a lifetime to get here and I’m not going anywhere!”

But a hair-whipping wind and bothersome drizzle soon became a threatening torrential downpour.

Diana was getting soaked, everyone was getting soaked and the concert had to be called off at the half-way point. Diana stayed at the mic guiding people out of the park.

It was one of her finest moments.

“The entire park was wall-to-wall people,’ Ross remembered. “It was an electrical storm. It was alive with energy…an incredible moment of my career. The rain came down like sheets of shimmering glass. I think about that day that turned into night. I wasn’t afraid, even though many were afraid for me. I just wanted the thousands that came to the performance to be safe. My dream came pouring down.”

But she returned and the concert went off without a hitch the next day.

So why am I bringing this all up now?

Because I have news: Shout! Factory has announced that Diana Ross—Live In Central Park will be released for the first time on DVD on May 15.

It will contain the entire concert special as it was broadcast, and the bonus features include the complete rain-shortened concert as well as a new commentary by director Steve Binder.

Over the two day event it was estimated that over a million fans attended the two concerts. Initially broadcast live around the world, with Diana’s proceeds going toward a new Central Park playground built in her name, this concert was never again shown on television and remained largely unseen for 30 years.

FILE UNDER: DVD

Comments

(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)

7 Remarks

  1. Awesome! But but i thought this was from 1982,not 1983. I believe i was 12 when i saw it on pay-per-view on ON-TV while living in Ontario,California.

  2. Which one? Before or after the storm?

  3. One of her best concerts, musically…….it was a wild day! I had a lesson in what it meant to be a New Yorker. It is exciting that there will finally be a legitimate copy after years of bootlegs being sold on different websites.

  4. The 9:00 minute plus version of Endless Love in this video is absolutely amazing. It will have you in tears. Such an amazing woman, mother, humanitarian, and artist.

    Go see her live while you have an opportunity. Her recent concerts are not over the top productions suited for Vegas style settings. She allows herself to get intimate during Touch me in the Morning, Endless Love, Lady Sings the Blues, Theme from Mahogany,Its my turn, My Man, Missing you, etc…

  5. March 26th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
    Gary F. McGloin says:

    It was 1983, I was 29, Diana 39

  6. Im only twelve and diana ross is my role model. she’s everything I want to be in life. She’s an outstanding artist, mother, humanitarian, performer, actress, etc…the list goes on. Seeing this concert will definitely be something I will look forward to. She shows every little black girl how far god, faith, and a gift can take you. She gives me gold to shoot for.

  7. July 21st, 2013 at 5:12 am
    Michael Coleman says:

    Great article, Greg. One correction: the 2nd day’s full concert was rebroadcast by Showtime once, in July of 1984, with the recap of Day 1 that’s on Disc 2.

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