Live
Dwele
Jazz Café
04 November 2005 (gig)
09 November 2005
I'd been looking forward to seeing Dwele perform live again since he last visited the Jazz Café back in February. He was great then, but this show to promote his second album (or third if you count the superb, Rize) was always going to be difficult as it's never easy to get the audience to love songs that have only been around for a few weeks. Dwele brushed that difficulty aside as he put together a show that managed to delight both old and new fans of his music.
Stepping onto the stage sporting a full blown afro, he opened with the ‘Pappa Yo' intro from 2003's ‘Subject' making an early statement that this was going to be more than just a showcase for ‘Some Kinda…'. Having made that statement, Dwele then moved straight into his new album's first two (and arguably, funkiest) tracks ‘Pimp's Dream' and ‘Holla' before travelling back to “Jimmy Down' from the ‘Rize' album. As you'd expect the vocal delivery was tight, with Dwele performing in his laid back style reminiscent of D'Angelo. The band was also on point – complimenting the lazy vocal with a smooth, warm style that gave the audience a feeling of familiarity – like they'd been performing in the Jazz Café for decades. Dwele even threw in the odd rap here and there, showing he was perfectly comfortable performing new tracks to a ‘virgin' audience.
We were treated to a mix of old then new tracks in succession and it didn't seem long before the band left the stage for the obligatory encore. We weren't left waiting too long before Dwele came back onstage and promised us a ‘real surprise' before launching into the smoky ‘Kick out of you'. Even though he forgot the words – twice – he still managed to get the entire audience participating for the track. The reward for such forgiveness was Dwele's ‘promise' realised – Angie Stone was brought to the stage and she was met with raptous applause. Angie sang while Dwele accompanied her on the keys. By the time the show was finished (with an extended performance of ‘Sho ya rite') Dwele had hit all the right buttons leaving the audience totally satisfied – my only complaint being that he didn't perform the brilliant ‘Lay it Down' from his new album. A minor dissatisfaction in the light of another killer show from Dwele and band – let's hope we only have to wait another 9 months before we see them on these shores again.
We were treated to a mix of old then new tracks in succession and it didn't seem long before the band left the stage for the obligatory encore. We weren't left waiting too long before Dwele came back onstage and promised us a ‘real surprise' before launching into the smoky ‘Kick out of you'. Even though he forgot the words – twice – he still managed to get the entire audience participating for the track. The reward for such forgiveness was Dwele's ‘promise' realised – Angie Stone was brought to the stage and she was met with raptous applause. Angie sang while Dwele accompanied her on the keys. By the time the show was finished (with an extended performance of ‘Sho ya rite') Dwele had hit all the right buttons leaving the audience totally satisfied – my only complaint being that he didn't perform the brilliant ‘Lay it Down' from his new album. A minor dissatisfaction in the light of another killer show from Dwele and band – let's hope we only have to wait another 9 months before we see them on these shores again.
