Spirits were high at Madison Square Garden Friday night, and not just because the Knicks staged a rare blowout victory on the Garden hardwood. Over in the adjacent Theater at MSG, R&B singer Robin Thicke also delivered a winning performance. Decked out in his trademark three-piece suit and open-collared shirt, Thicke performed a tight 14-song set, bookended by his two most recent hits—“Give It 2 U” and last summer’s breakthrough collaboration with Pharrell Williams and T.I., “Blurred Lines.”
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In case you’ve been skipping your weekly dosage of TMZ and Perez, Thicke has been a fixture in the gossip mill lately, with news of his recent split from actor Paula Patton and the singer’s onstage pleas for reconciliation during previous legs of the Blurred Lines tour. No mentions of Patton by name on this night, but a pre-song message about the importance of love, family and forgiveness before “Lost Without U” and a cover of the Al Green classic “Let’s Stay Together” seemed destined to fly out of the building, across miles of sky, toward a certain estranged someone. Whether those sentiments reach their target or not, it was all smiles and soulful energy from Thicke at the Garden, and the packed house boisterously screamed its approval.
DJ Cassidy and K. Michelle warmed up the Theater at MSG crowd prior to Thicke’s closing set.