Jamie Lidell/ Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Live Review

Ladies and Gents I can truly say this show this past evening reaffirmed my love for live music.

The weather was unusually clammy for our high altitude mountain west surroundings but this didn't stop the show.

Arriving at the show thirty minutes early I snagged a spot in the front row. Sure enough at around 7, the five members of Jamie Lidell's backing band came on each with a memorable aesthetic. Immediately they opened with the instrument stomping synth-dominated whirl of "The Ring" while the drummer introduced Jamie Lidell who came out on stage. The fellow's dance-singing consists of a lanky awkward soul-convulsion that couldn't be more endearing.

The show's setlist was just about perfect

The Ring
Another Day
I Wanna Be Your Telephone
A Little Bit More
Jamie Lidell Acapella madness
Where'd You Go?
Enough's Enough
Coma Chameleon
Multiply
Your Sweet Boom!
A Little Bit of Feel Good

Throughout the show you could tell the band was having even more fun than us few but enthusiastic lidell fans up in the front. Which is to say a great deal of fun. At one point the keyboardist in a fury of groove knocked over a large synth mid-song but still managed to play.
The musicianship was casually tremendous in that way. Lidell brings out his eccentricities and idiosyncrasies (which of course make for great banter). During A Little Bit More the band abandoned the stage for Jamie to do a ten-minute loop, EQ, beatboxing, crooning exploration. The final three tunes brought the energy to a cap with the following clip's cameraman struggling to shoot a good video without dancing too much (that cameraman is the author of this blog).



After the Lidell set, I was feeling some serious concert euphoria, got pizza with my concert companion Erin, and decided to see what Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were going to bring. I wasn't quite convinced about how they would be as a live act but they couldn't have made me any more certain.

First things first, bands where the members where suits and don't have a string section usually groove the hardest. The famous Dap-Kings take the stage. With a trumpeter, a baritone sax, a tenor sax, a drummer, a conga player, two guitarists, and a bassist/bandleader, the Dap-Kings might be the tighest act working today. The pocket became an immediate member of the band from the first tune. The act opens with a sort of classic soul medley or as they like to call it a "Daptone Supersoul Revue". Sure enough the crowd is good and ready by the time Sharon Jones takes the stage. From the moment Jones gets the mic she takes control. I don't know if I've ever seen better stage control, crowd control, and performance out of one person. Jones doesn't hold back for even one second. Her pipes are no hold bars good and surely if I knew her discography like Lidell's I would have loved to provide the setlist. The Dap-Kings are perfect. It is a rare treat to such musicianship. Furthermore the Dap-Kings don't seek to boast, with no solos to speak of. Only tight band playing.

The tunes were varied from crooning to all-out funk attacks with Jones periodicaly going wild with her soul 45-era dance moves. They did an encore during which a couple shmucks tossed up their sneakers. She simply made fun of them, signed them and threw them back. She flirted with security, danced with the people backstage, and made sure to make the people of Utah feel loved (it was her first Utah show ever). She was humorous and broke it down every chance in her skin tight soul-era dress.

Afterwards it is no hyperbole to say my legs were sore. Gentleman and Ladies, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are where it's at and in the words of the guitarist, if you don't got the new record, get it.

Did I mention this show was free? Best show of the twilight series hands down.