Musiq Soulchild may be headlining but tonight is close on a double bill with India.Arie providing an almost full length 'warm up' set.
The lithe Atlanta soul warrior kicks off with 'Promises', goes into covers of Marley's 'Natural Mystic' and Terence Trent D'Arby's 'Sign Your Name' before topping things off with an extended version of her own superlative 'Brown Skin' (even whipping off her shirt to show her own chocolate hue). What no 'Video'? Nope, she runs out of time and perhaps it's for the best. Somehow the sample heavy sound of her first single would have sat at odds with her acoustic, honest, organic sound backed up by her all action live band.
Musiq Soulchild (aka Philadelphia-born Talib Johnson) hits the stage to 'Rocky's Theme' wearing a silver boiler suit, cop glasses and a hat that covers almost everything facial. He looks like an extra from George Michael's 'Outside' video. Is he in disguise? Is it really him? Hard to tell, he's definitely lost weight since his first video and album cover were shot. He's now slimline and while not sublime his show provides a good take on his hit heavy 'Aijuswanaseing' album.
He kicks off with The Roots sampling 'L' Is Gone' and then goes straight into 'Speechless', keeping up a high hip hop tempo different to the smooth R&B roll of his album. Maybe it's the addition of DJ Active, who runs breakbeats over the seven piece band tight rhythms, that gives his sound that extra crunch.
Then it's inspired cover time, from a brief snatch of Soul II Soul's 'Back To Life' through to full versions of Marvin Gaye's 'Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)' and most interestingly of all Mos Def's 'Umi Says', a future classic if ever there was one. Soulchild makes the song his own by slowing it down and then stretching it out into funk rock. Nice.
'Seventeen', 'Love', 'Mary Go Round' and 'You Be Alright' follow in a quick whirl and then he's off with a terse "Thanks, Bye." His band looks baffled and remains seated, seemingly unaware that it's down tools time. Slowly they shuffle off one by one, looking at each other non-plussed. We've just had a lesson on how not to make an exit and a hint at just how new Johnson is to this performing game, despite his shiny, smiley demeanour.
There's a decent call for an encore. After all 'Just Friends (Sunny)' hasn't been played. Back he wheels, still sweating in that silver boiler suit and his killer cut from the Nutty Professor II soundtrack is duly delivered. Soulchild lacks a little polish but with the quality of his song-writing he's going to endure far longer than the majority of his contemporaries.
