Earth, Wind & Fire show the reason they keep selling out in Hawaii

Earth, Wind & Fire perform in Hawaii perhaps more than any major act, selling out six visits just in the 2000s. When they played the Blaisdell Arena on Tuesday night, it was easy to see why they continue to draw.

The 12-piece R&B/funk/pop/jazz/disco/rock band put on a 100-minute, 21-song, energy-filled SHOW, complete with solos from almost every band member, choreographed dance moves that represented seemingly every era of music from ’60s Motown to 21st century hip-hop and tour de force singing from the man his bandmates call “The Voice,” Phillip Bailey.

Bailey is one of three original members who has been with Earth, Wind & Fire since its founding in the early 1970s, along with bassist Verdine White and percussionist Ralph Johnson, and the Big Three have done a commendable job of surrounding themselves with supporting talent that is able to step up and do them proud in the spotlight.

Mixing in some young help — including percussionist-vocalists B. David Whitworth and Philip Bailey Jr. (he of the fantastic dreadlocks) — has served the group well, allowing them to keep the energy pumping all night despite coming up on five decades and to keep their presentation fresh with updated dance moves, mic-twirling and tambourine-flinging that doesn’t come across as forced the way some veteran acts do when they try to incorporate rap into their music.

They also made good use of a projection screen behind them, best of all in several tributes to band founder Maurice White, who died in February after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease.

But enough about energy and showmanship. Most important, Earth, Wind & Fire played some great music at their first Hawaii show in three years.

They took the stage showcasing that musicianship, letting their guitarists and horn players riff a bit before Bailey, White and Johnson joined them on stage and launched into “Boogie Wonderland.” (Was that a “Black Power” salute at the end? The audience didn’t seem to mind.)

The band, clad in all white, ripped through hit after hit — “Sing a Song,” “Shining Star” and “Serpentine Fire” among them — not even taking a break in between. They went for a half-hour-plus, as these were full-bodied versions of the songs, sometimes verging on jams, not the mere medleys that some artists use to work in as many hits as possible, all the while leaving fans who adore those songs with an empty feeling.

When they finally paused to catch their collective breath, Bailey noted the crowd’s exuberance and knowledge of the band’s catalog.

“I guess we don’t have to ask how many true Earth, Wind & Fire fans we have in the house tonight!” he said, drawing roars.

Though it was hard to imagine at that point, the group had higher highs ahead of it.

Though the audience responded well to blockbusters like “That’s the Way of the World” — with some great guitar work from Morris O’Connor — and “After the Love Has Gone,” the centerpiece of the show proved to be “Reasons.”

Admittedly, this is not exactly a surprise. Though the song never charted, it is one of the band’s handful of true signature songs, especially in Hawaii. (A friend of mine joked before the show that he thinks he may have been conceived to it. … At least I think he was joking. I hope he was joking.)

Hearing Bailey’s age-defying falsetto on “Reasons” is practically worth the price of admission by itself. Listening to Bailey sing “Reasons” is like watching Ozzie Smith play shortstop or Stephen Curry shoot 3s or Monet paint water lilies. It’s almost as if Bailey was put on Earth to sing that song and he knows it. He enjoys every note of it, and so does the audience, basking in the realization that it is watching a human being do something with ultimate purpose. Bailey milks it for all he can without crossing that line into self-indulgence the way Led Zeppelin does in “Stairway to Heaven.” (Yeah, I said it.)

Bailey had at least three moments in his performance of this song that were just incredible, that left you with your mouth agape, and each of them was topped shortly thereafter by yet another incredible high note or a high note stretched out longer than you thought possible, or a falsetto that bounced between two notes so incredibly that it’s almost — but not quite — vibrato.

As incredible a peak as “Reasons” was in this show, Earth, Wind & Fire matched it by carrying that momentum into “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “September,” “Let’s Groove” and — as an encore — “Fantasy.”

That five-song run is maybe as great a stretch of songs as I’ve seen in a concert, and I’ve been to dozens of concerts. But it all starts with “Reasons.” If history can be trusted, Earth, Wind & Fire will be back, and they will perform “Reasons,” and you should not miss it.