Joy and Gratitude in Las Vegas?

"Sure, I'd love to come!" I told my friend when she invited me to Vegas for the weekend. "It's been too long!"

I'm not much of a gambler, my strategy being that I always win if I don't play, but I hadn't seen my girlfriend in a couple of years and we always had fun together.

A weekend of dining and dancing and lounging poolside with her sounded like a blast.

On our last night, we decided to see a show featuring a group named Human Nature. I'd never heard of them. The concierge said it was an Australian quartet singing Motown songs.

"Well, I love Motown," I said to my friend. "Sounds fun, let's go!"

We got dressed up, walked down the strip to the Imperial Palace and settled into our booth with a great view of the stage.

The show started with an electrifying blast of lights and sound. Four young men were on the stage, in vintage-looking suits. 

Their voices were amazing—the live band incredible, and their dancing was just great.

The group explained they had all met in high school—two were brothers—and had been singing together for 20 years. They were huge in Australia, but hadn't managed to become a household name in the states yet.

They expressed how excited they were to be in America. How they were still stunned to be playing in Las Vegas, but mostly how happy they were to be singing the songs they loved so much.

As the group talked and sang, we couldn't help but fall in love with them. They were charming, funny, warm, and truly excited to be there.

The theme I kept picking up on was their gratitude. They took absolutely nothing for granted. They loved their jobs, they loved their fans, they loved their country and ours, and they showered their love on the crowd. 

They brought a woman up onto the stage and had her sing and dance with them, and then gave her their CD.

They taught the crowd dance moves and had everyone up, singing and dancing, smiling and laughing with new friends they'd met just moments before.

You couldn't help but sing and clap along with the songs—feel good classics by Smokey Robinson, the Supremes, and the Temptations including "My Girl," "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Stop in the Name of Love" and "Dancing in the Streets."

If anyone had been in a bad mood when they walked through those doors, they were happy now. It was impossible not to be. The joy of this quartet was infectious, and the whole theme of the show was about feeling good and having fun.

After their performance, the four young men stood in the lobby, personally autographing every CD handed to them by the huge adoring throng, including mine.

As I stood next to the group I said to them, "You are absolutely talented, no question. But what I love about you is your attitude."

One of the singers smiled and handed me my CD. "We love what we do," he told me. That much was clear!

Their love and enthusiasm was infectious, and turned a huge crowd of strangers into a happily singing, dancing group of new friends.

It was the highlight of the whole weekend—a night of joy and gratitude, on the Las Vegas strip.

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Smokey Robinson presents Human Nature—"The Ultimate Celebration of the Motown Sound"
 

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