Ok, folks… after the Central Park Summer Stage concert (click here to read my recap from yesterday), we grabbed some grub and rushed to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ for the annual McDonald’s GospelFest.

The GospelFest used to be in NYC, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, but they moved it to Jersey a coupla years ago and I hadn’t been since then… going all outta state and what not.

But, I was thrilled to be in attendance this year!  Performers included J Moss, CeCe Winans, Regina Belle, Cissy Houston, Vickie Winans, Hezekiah Walker, Donnie McClurkin and Patti LaBelle.  WOWWWWWWWWW.

J Moss tore that stage APART.  He’s not playing, folks!  CeCe Winans was also incredible and she brought her brother, BeBe, out to sing their new single, “Close To You.”  I’m growing increasingly excited for the reunion album and tour!

Regina Belle ministered like you wouldn’t believe!  Remember how I posted something months ago about her being sidelined due to a sudden illness?  Well, she testified about that trial– what should’ve been one 2-hour surgery ended up being an 8-hour surgery, followed by FIVE more surgeries.  She was told she would be deaf in one ear, but she’s healed and in business!  She sounded great.

Hezekiah Walker & LFC also gave a rousing performance (as always), with Donnie McClurkin joining the tenor section, just for kicks.  Up next was Donnie’s set, full of energy, classic songs, GREAT singing and some of my favorite background singers on Earth.  I was backstage by the time Vickie Winans went up, but I could HEAR her loud and clear– she never disappoints on the vocals.

Behind the scenes, even more folks were milling around– Melinda Watts, Jason Nelson, Jerard Woods, Andrea Mellini…

At a certain point, the security backstage got SOOO tight, you’d have though President Obama was coming through. You know how sometimes folks take their jobs a bit too seriously?  Yeah… shout-out to the security team for being super duper EXTRA with your little walkie-talkies.

Turns out it wasn’t the Prez… it was Patti LaBelle.  Close enough, if you ask me! She closed out the show in grand fashion, looking and sounding SPECTACULAR at age 65.

All in all, a GREAT time.  Met some new folks and re-connected with old ones… I’m grateful.  You can check out some GREAT performance pictures at the website of The Star Ledger, a local NJ paper.  My own backstage pics follow:

And, of course, I didn’t forget to get a quick word on video from Melinda Watts:

Whatd’ya think???