28 Jul Bilal Live At Fabric, London | Gig Review
How does one comment on a performance that felt more like a bout in a ring with a heavyweight champion than with a Neo soul crooner who hasn’t released an album in nine years and has kept, more or less, to the fringes of the supposedly dead music genre ever since?
You start, of course, by recovering and if you can’t do that you at least start by recollecting the significant blows. The ones that made your eyes water, that made your ears ring like wind chimes or had your stomach acids turning upwards before your legs went numb and your face met the cold floor.
Just in case you haven’t guessed already, the heavyweight champion I’m referring to is born Philadelphian singer/songwriter Bilal Sayeed Oliver and the performance; his live no holds barred show at Fabric in London on Wednesday 14th July.
I can't for the life of me remember how I first came across Janelle Monae. She appeared on several Outkast affiliated projects in '05 but I don't think I paid much attention to them - it was her EP that caught my ear a few years ago. Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase was a strong but short set of seven fusions of rock, pop, soul and funk, quietly introducing this flawless voice, unique songwriter and theatrical performer to the world.