Earth, Wind & Fire at Memphis Botanic Gardens was so much more than dinner and a show… (Photos by Warren Roseborough)

Even without its brilliant original front man and founder, Earth, Wind, and Fire delivered an electrifying performance for thousands of fans – old and new – at the Memphis Botanic Gardens last weekend.

Phillip Bailey’s still got it…

Native Memphian Maurice White and his group dominated the ‘70’s with memorable chart-busting hits, such as “Reasons,” “Keep Your Head To the Sky,” “Love’s Holiday,” “Can’t Hide Love,” and “After the Love Is Gone.”

Renditions of those hits and other blockbusters took concert-goers on a wistful stroll down memory lane. Memorable, satisfying and eventful were descriptions offered by some of those lucky enough to get tickets for the sold-out event.

White, a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, brought the group together in the late ‘60’s. It was more than five years before they gained national and international fame. Today, the group’s legendary front man suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and is no longer on the entertainment circuit.

A bevy of women screamed through their favorite oldies as vocalists Ralph Johnson (center) and Phillip Bailey offered a string of harmonic serenades.

The Earth, Wind & Fire Live at the Garden concert was an electrifying stage spectacle of light and sound…

And they gave the drummer some…

Ralph Johnson and a guitarist bring back the old magic…