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| Bobby Womack at the Blues Fest, Royal Albert Hall |
Bobby Womack featuring
Altrinna Grayson at the Royal Albert Hall, London
We had the privilege of being invited to what was the
most extraordinary set at the BluesFest at the Royal Albert Hall. The legendary
Bobby Womack performed a storming set to an electric crowd that was lapping up
every note and crowd pleasing stage antic. Bobby Womack is not only one of the
best soul singers he gives every inch of his himself to every performance he
gives. Flanked by electrifying back up singers who could easily be a headline act
at any world class concert.
69-year-old US soul father Bobby Womack, is a relentless
entertainer with as much zeal for life as he has for good music. His music
speaks to each and everyone in the audience – it’s about the ups and downs of
life, overcoming adversity, finding love, losing life and God. Womack tells a
story and we feel like we know him and what he has gone through in his journey
as a singer, partner and family man.
It’s 11pm and his daughter opens the show with 2 intimate
stripped down songs from her upcoming EP album. Beautiful, curvaceous, bubbly and
with a sweet and powerful voice the
young Womack songstress proved that talent runs in the family and that
the Womack and Womack legacy lives on.
The soul father was led on to stage sporting black
leather trousers and coat and his trademark tinted shades. His band and backing
singers entrance equally exuding a cool demeanor reminiscent of the legends
during the golden age of soul and rhythm and blues. He gets the crowd into a
frenzy opening with his hit “Across 110th Street”. We then experienced a full
blown soul explosion from his catalogue from the 1960s to his 2012 album TheBravest Man In The Universe and 1 new song from his upcoming album. There is no
doubt Womack’s headline appearance at the BluesFest was as memorable as his
sets at Glastonbury and Latitude.
Having played guitar and opened for Sam Cooke And The
Soul Stirrers, he took us back to the time when Sam Cooke wrote “A Change is
Going to Come”. Womack then performed a sizzling stripped back version of the
song to the sheer delight of the adoring crowd. A highlight of this performance
was the man next to me rolling on his seat crying when Womack hit the big notes
on this hit. This is how a soul legend affects those who experience his music. The
set continued to deliver gem after gem and the biggest treat was AltrinnaGrayson singing backup and the glass shattering vocals on the Patti Labelle
parts on “Love has Finally Come” - totally astonishing.
Sadly like
most good things, the great man’s set had to end. Womack’s blistering vocals
stirred emotions in the audience in a way I had never seen with a 10 minute standing
ovation begging for an encore. Introduced back on stage by Altrinna
Grayson, Womack delivered his memorable gospel hit
“Jesus be a Fence around me” for his encore ending in resounding applause and
another ovation.
My team left knowing that we would never forget the
incredible effect on us knowing what we had experienced seeing Womack work his
magic on stage
