Patti LaBelle tossed around more than her vocals at her recent performance in California over the weekend.
The legendary Godmother of Soul, known for kicking off her shoes and rolling around on the stage, recently performed at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, a music venue in San Diego, on Saturday, Aug, 19.
While there, a concertgoer captured a video of LaBelle onstage in an all-white outfit singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Just as she threw the microphone stand off the stage and away from the audience, a group from the crowd applauded her theatrical acts.
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The Neighborhood Talk shared a clip of the moment on Instagram, where fans brought up the icon’s history of throwing things, including some who drew comparisons to Cardi B, after she recently threw her microphone at a fan who threw water on her.
“Somebody said “Cardi LaBelle” and I’m SCREAMING.”
“She seen how y’all been acting up at concerts lately and wanted y’all to know she ain’t the one.”
“Chile this lady been tossing her shoes since the 70s!! She don’t care.”
“And nobody bet not say a word to her either living legend.”
“This is her staple… she been doing this and she throws it to the side of her stage and not towards any people for you slow people in the back.”
LaBelle has been entertaining her fans for decades on film, television and various stages around the world. But this isn’t the first time she was seen throwing a mic stand offstage.
In the midst of performing “If Only You Knew” at the 2022 Grio Awards, which aired last November, she also threw a mic stand to the side, which again received applause from the audience.
In 2020, during her viral “Verzuz” battle with fellow icon Gladys Knight, an overly excited LaBelle kicked off her heels before getting up to do the eagle dance with her arms.
The “Midnight Train to Georgia” singer seemed to approve, as she gave LaBelle a high five afterward.
LaBelle opened up about the viral moment during an appearance on “The Estelle Show” podcast. She said she had brought all of her stage equipment with her, including “trunks for my shoes that I place on the piano on stage.”
“But since we didn’t have a piano, I bought my trunks to put my pumps on because I love to change shoes during my show,” she explained. “And I brought my carpet and I just brought a few personal things, pretending that I was on tour. This is a stage show, right?”
She claimed that after she kicked off her shoe in the air, no one expected it would come back down and hit her.
“So, honey, when I’m standing up and doing ‘Over The Rainbow,’ I kick my shoes off, but I have a long way for that shoe to fly,” LaBelle continued. “Honey, that shoe kicked off and landed on my knee. I have scars on my right knee. That heel went in my knee.”
She said it was a “real” moment she loved, despite the consideration of whether she would “be able to finish dancing because this knee is hurting me so bad.’”
Another one of LaBelle’s viral shoe moments took place during her tribute performance for singer Prince at the 2010 BET Awards. She flung her shoes off her feet per usual, and Prince caught one heel in his hand off camera, which he proudly held in the air afterward.
Although she never intends to harm herself or anyone else, LaBelle admitted that she wanted to “slap” a cupcake chef who made a slick comment toward her during a live television segment on “The Tyra Banks Show.”
