Janelle Gets It On
It was many years ago that I went to my first ever gig, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers at The Civic Hall St. Albans, if my memory serves me. I can’t remember why I went but I would say it was because England was in the grip of a blues boom, influenced by the great artists on the other side of The Atlantic.
Influence is a great thing in the arts and none less so that in music. Subliminally and sublimely, artists are influenced by the living and the dead. This kind of influence was in evidence at the scene of my latest gig experience-Janelle Monae at The O2 in Bristol.
I had seen Janelle, a pint sized Afro American diva, on Later hosted by the effervescent Jules Holland some months ago, and had been impressed by her voice and also her stage craft, elements of both borrowed unashamedly from The Godfather Of Soul himself. She and her soul R and B band gave a performance of such voice, dance and showmanship, that JB would himself would have been jiving in his grave that very night.
Caped and cowled band members aside, Janelle and her horns, singers, dancers and instrumentalists gave us a great show, featuring her three most powerfully delivered dance numbers, ‘Cold War’, ‘Tightrope’ and, ‘Faster’, which were themselves eclipsed by a superb rendition of ‘Smile’ delivered early in the performance with confidence and power.
Over the years I have been at the ’birth’ of a number of now famous acts, Led Zeppelin in a pub in Welwyn Garden City 1969, and Free in an even dingier pub in Wood Green London 1970 for example, and the reaction of the audience at the O2 Arena on Thursday suggested that one more may well be soon added to my list.
