SOUL II SOUL | LIVE REVIEW
Great Hall, Cardiff University Students Union, Fri 8 Nov
Making our way into the Great Hall on a cold and drizzly November night, we sense that something is different. Current students are definitely in the minority; it’s ‘school of life’ alumni out for a good time tonight as middle-aged soul fans and messy haired funksters in baggy jeans rub shoulders to help celebrate Soul II Soul’s 25th anniversary.
With their roots deep in the sound system ethos Soul II Soul, unlike most bands, have always been a collective; musicians, singers, DJs and MCs working together to produce and perform music, and tonight the 13-piece are totally in sync. As the musicians, including electronic string section, ease into silky riffs, three female backing singers in cool white joyfully take their places at the mic and begin to harmonise and move as one, reminiscent of the great backing groups of the 1950s.
Jazzie B, modest and unassuming despite being a British music legend (and OBE), suddenly appears at the decks. He occasionally comes up front to sing vocals but like the maestro behind the curtain, who brings good things together and makes them great, he keeps a low profile.
Never less than charismatic, Caron Wheeler seems to glide on to the stage, shimmering from neck to toe in a black dress glistening like a midnight sea. Her iconic braids piled high like a crown of hair, for the undisputed queen of nu-soul. She moves elegantly around the stage, and her voice shows no sign of having aged as she sustains and hits every note. Things step up a gear with the introduction of MC Chickaboo: an established drum’n’bass MC and DJ in her own right, she brings a very different flavour to the collective. All manic energy, tattoos and braided mohawk flying, the contrast is big and the beats bigger still.
“Steady are you ready… what’s going on?” When the a cappella intro to their 1989 breakthrough hit Back To Life drifts out from the speakers the audience are finally sated, this is the one they’ve been waiting for. We all listen, we all sing, we all dance.
words MARIA-LUISA MEREDITH
