Ike & Tina 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.
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones had a great influence on Tina Turner's career. First in 1966, Ike & Tina Turner were invited to perform with The Rolling Stones as an opening act at their UK tour. Three years later, The Stones asked Ike & Tina again to open their North American tour in November 1969, which gave them a higher profile among young rock audiences. The performance of I’ve Been Loving You Too Long was included in the concert movie Gimme Shelter in 1970 and the complete performance of their opening set was released on the anniversary edition of the album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! in 2009.
At the concert on November 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York, Janis Joplin was in the audience and jumped on stage for an unplanned duet with Tina on the last song „Land of 1.000 Dances“. The next year, Ike & Tina recorded with Honky Tonk Women their first song from The Stones, released on the album Come Together.
- Gimme Some Lovin'
- Sweet Soul Music
- Son Of A Preacher Man
- Proud Mary
- I've Been Loving You Too Long
- Come Together
- Land Of Thousand Dances
September 23 - October 22, 1966
Opening Night: Royal Albert Hall, London
Closing Night: California Ballroom, Dunstable
November 07 - 30, 1969
Opening Night: Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Closing Night: International Raceway, West Palm Beach, Florida
Ikettes: Ester Jones, Pat Powdrill, Claudia Lennear
„Opening for the Stones were B.B. King and then World War Three, also known as Ike and Tina Turner….“
Live at Carnegie Hall
Review of Ike & Tina’s appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 1, 1971. 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. 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. — Mike Jahn for New York Times, April 4