For almost 50 years, Maze ft. Frankie Beverly has been one of the most iconic R&B groups. Before Maze, the band was known as Raw Soul which Beverly started in 1970 and he is the last remaining original member with the group. Original keyboardist Sam Porter and percussionist McKinley “Bug” Williams have both passed.
For Mother’s Day, the KIA Forum in Inglewood, CA hosted a special show with After 7, Anthony Hamilton and Maze ft. Frankie Beverly on their farewell tour. The last time Maze played L.A. was at the Greek Theater in 2019. For years the group closed out the Congo Square stage on the second Sunday of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The majority of the crowd was dressed in all white as the band has for years. Between '77 and '93, the group released nine Gold albums. Although it has been 31 years since the last release, Maze has quite a catalog of hits to perform having over 30 charting singles and two which were number one on the US R&B chart.
Maze took the stage around 9:30 P.M. and played an hour 15 with a set of classics like “Before I Let Go,” “We Are One,” “Golden Time of Day,” and “Happy Feelings.” Beverly, now 77 still sounds great and the band is incredible. Towards the end of their set, Beverly was presented a proclamation from the city of Inglewood marking May 12th Frankie Beverly day. There are just five shows left with the next one being in New Orleans, LA May 25th which the band has a long history with the city being the first group to sell out the Superdome back in 1982. The final show will be in Philadelphia, PA where the group formed July 6 at the Dell Music Center.
Photo credit - Ashley Osborn / Kia Forum Photos
