While in Birmingham, AL for the holidays, I attended the 9^th Annual Just a Few Cats reunion concert with the band’s original lead singer and Season 2 American Idol winner Ruben Studdard. The concert took place two nights before Christmas at WorkPlay, a relatively small venue, but there isn’t a bad seat in the building.

Kevin Liles, former President of Def Jam, and his wife Erika arrived before the start of the show. Erika is from the area so I assume she was home for the holidays as well. They, along with their party, took their seats among the rest of the crowd.

Studdard performed all but a few of the songs during the 2.5 hour show. He told the audience that he would not be performing from his albums because this was not his show, but a reunion for the band. He also added, “Long before I went to L.A…..these were my cats!”

The band performed a nice variety of songs that appealed to the audience which contained fans ranging from early their early twenties to upwards of fifty years old. A few of the hits included Bring It on Home by Sam Cooke, Whose Making Love by Johnnie Taylor, Please Come Home for Christmas by Charles Brown, and of course a myriad Luther Vandross ballads.  

Between songs, we were charmed by Studdard’s comical personality as he took advantage of every opportunity to speak to the crowd. We laughed, we sang, we danced and by the end of the night I think everyone would agree that the fun had and memories made were worth  far more than the price of the ticket!

Shannon Simpson

Twitter: @Shannon_RHP