St Paul & The Broken Bones @ Waterfront Studio
Truly good for the soul.
In terms of impact on the evening as a whole support act Days Are Done made a very small one. A country (rock) tinged male/female duo, only eight months into their musical journey, they were pleasant and endearing enough and delivered lovely vocal harmonies, but ultimately were not especially memorable.
St. Paul & The Broken Bones hail from Birmingham, Alabama and at this moment are still a relatively unknown quantity in this country. That will change in one weeks time when they take the stage at Glastonbury festival and the footage is beamed all over the Beeb. Then people will realise they missed this incredible show and the 200 of us who witnessed it will be able to boast – we were there. The seven piece Broken Bones squeezed onto the stage for the opening instrumental number before St. Paul entered the fray, and from the second he sang his first note we were left open mouthed. I’ve thought about this and I’m not sure I have ever witnessed a better vocal performance - a more natural, effortless, impassioned, soulful and downright emotional vocal performance. This is how it must have been watching Al Green in his prime, or even seeing Otis Redding. I’m serious. Paul Janeway has it. The fact that he is a slightly portly white man who was heading for a career in accountancy just makes it all the more incredible. He’s a performer too, filled with the confidence you get from having honed your craft. He is a showman, a southern gentleman who seemed almost taken aback by the ferocity of the love we showed for him and his band.
New song Waves bodes well for their second album due out in September, suggesting the band are not going to be merely offering us more of the same. It was about a third of the way into the set when Paul came into the crowd and sang for us, when he came and communed with us. Broken Bones & Pocket Change was five minutes of intense emotional overload which made us all feel as one. From then until the end of the set the atmosphere just got more and more intense. The crowd were literally screaming their approval at every opportunity. It felt like we were being taken to both church ("AMEN" we shouted) and school. We were wrapped up in a giant warm loving embrace. They even had the audacity to cover the Beatles' I Want You (She’s So Heavy) and it was immense and dramatic and respectful and alive and sincere, a complete goosebumps moment.
The whole band played impeccably, the horn section making it a proper soul revue show. I feel like I’ve been lucky enough to witness one of the world’s great soul bands just at the point they’re about to become massive. This really is music that needs to be experienced live. The band must surely feel so confident as they walk onto a stage knowing what they are about to do – to every single audience they face. They are still young, their set will benefit from another albums worth of material to choose from, and doing their live sound justice in the studio is always going to be a challenge. I also can’t believe how good Paul’s voice will sound in a decade or more, when it’s a little more aged and mature, when he’ll carry even more emotional weight to his words.
Everyone who was there will remember this night for a very long time. To spend a sweat soaked evening in the company of these guys during a time when it feels like the world is only full of hate and negativity proved to be truly good for the soul.
@StuPres
