Ike & Tina Turner are not so much known about their records, but because of their live shows. They were the hottest and most unusual R&B performers of their time, constantly on the road, at the beginning of their career in smaller clubs like the Club Manhattan in St. Louis.
With the success of River Deep, Mountain High in 1966, they developed their show more into rock’n roll and toured for the first time Europe and Australia. From The Rolling Stones, they were invited in 1966 to open their UK tour and once again in 1969 for their North American tour. With this wider audience profile in their home country, The lke and Tina Turner Revue was guest on many variety shows and picked up the opportunity to perform in the casinos of Las Vegas.
In the seventies, with hits like Proud Mary, Nutbush City Limits and I Want To Take You Higher, Ike & Tina toured all over the world in big arenas and at festivals. They were also the first show act who outsold the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany.
The setlist from their concerts changed constantly, so it’s impossible to list all songs they performed live. To get an idea of their shows, you can listen to such fantastic live albums like What You Hear Is What You Get or The World of Ike & Tina or you can watch the home video Live in ’71.
Live at Carnegie Hall
Review of Ike & Tina’s appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 1, 1971 by Mike Jahn for the New York Times in it’s issue from April 4.
The duo with the Ikettes Esther Jones, Vera Hamilton and Jean Brown performed two concerts that night, which was recorded for their live album What You Hear Is What You Get (Live at Carnegie Hall). Fats Domino was their supporting act.
Ike and Tina Turner have moved from being a soul band with sensual overtones to being the chief figures in a now category of pop music that can only be called porno soul. They still aren't any easier to describe.
The Turners and their Revue, preceded onstage by Fats Domino, played a first appearance at Carnegie Hall Thursday evening. Tina Turner is gravel throated and as fine a soul singer as heard in years. But her main attraction, what gets the most applause and, presumably, the most bookings, is her incredible sexiness.
In previous New York concerts, she has stuck to singing familiar soul and rock songs: "Respect," "Honky Tonk Women," "Proud Mary" and the like, with some sexual references. But in this latest appearance the sexual references have become a whole literature, and thus the tone of her performance has changed from erotic to outrageous‐comical.
Anyway, she still sings soul with the familiar intensity, persistently improves the songs she chooses, and still dances up a hurricane. I would go anywhere to see Tina Turner even if her performance was shown on 8‐mm film, which Lord knows, maybe next.
Sheraton Waikiki Hotel (Honolulu)
Review of Ike & Tina’s performance at the Hawaii Ballroom at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu, from April 10-12, 1974 in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:
Tina Turner, the gyrating queen of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, sitting in her hotel room calmly munching cornflakes and taking the night air after a fiery performance. ... "Usually after a job I like cornflakes," said Tina in her dressing room last night after a sweaty performance onstage at the ballroom of the Sheraton Waikiki. ... But she never has trouble with her weight, eating what she wants and constantly tipping the scales at 126.
"The only time I lose weight is when I'm sick," she said, looking cool and comfortable in a silver lame number she had slipped into from her sweaty stage mini-dress.
Fifteen minutes earlier she had been glistening with perspiration, panting through her songs and dancing like an unleashed demon leading her pack of Ikettes. But now, in the dressing room, there is not a hint of that animal exertion. ... When she's not onstage, the sexy Las Vegas nightclub star is a mother and housewife. And those roles are the real Tina Turner, she says. That wildly sensual creature is just an image, mostly conjured up by her talented husband Ike.
But that "act" is what has driven the Turners to a position of stardom. This is their fifth appearance in Hawaii in four years and still they are drawing fans like flies. ... Sometimes, the front line has proven the tougher role for Tina.
She is still smarting from the time in Las Vegas recently when the strap on one of her shoes broke and she was forced to put on a new pair right on stage. "How unprofessional can you get," she groaned. I hate anything that's unprofessional on stage."
Then there was the time in 1966 when she fell, plop on her behind with her legs spread-eagled to the audience. "I still think about that and get embarrassed," she said. ... But those kinds of slips are rare for Tina and when you've seen her performance, you've seen a polished professional. ... Though they touched down in Hawaii just two hours before their show yesterday, they looked like they had just come from a health farm.