After a lukewarm start in Sydney due to atrocious sound issues, I was a bit nervous with my decision to fly down to Melbourne and do it all again. This was a line-up that was quite literally a dream for me and felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so to be underwhelmed twice would not only be soul crushing personally, it would have been indicative of what Australia and New Zealand could expect from the rest of the long-awaited tour. But all those angry tweets and general complaints that arose out of Sydney and the lack of sound checking seemed to benefit Melbourne; this time the crew behind Soulfest were on the ball. This led to a festival that felt like an entirely different, better experience than Sydney, and felt much closer to what the promoters intended the festival to be.
It also helps that King's Domain is infinitely greater as a venue than Victoria Park, it's got the Sidney Myer Music Bowl which is perfect for concerts like this and is also much less open. Though, this meant that, unlike in Sydney, those who purchased GA tickets could only reach as far as the halfway point; but telling from the reaction back there, that didn't seem to matter too much.
Soulfest Melbourne wasn't without it's problems though; due to an apparent issue with logistics, the entire local stage was scrapped, meaning that all the scheduled locals had nowhere to play and were therefore dropped from the day's line up. This was, of course, excepting local crooner Dru Chen who opened up the main stage and did so as if his entire career depended on it. The flair this man and his minimal live set up brought to the crowd was a tremendous opener for the incomparable line-up that followed.
First to follow was L.A gem Leela James who completely owned the space, gyrating around the stage and toying with the crowd, all the while letting loose soul screams and letting that powerful voice soar over tracks like the closing epic "Music".
With no locals to break up the time between international acts, most took advantage of the venue's layout and just relaxed on the seats while others camped out the front, saving entire sections up front for their friends - a strange and quite annoying situation.
Anthony Hamilton and his highly animated band came out and opened with the exciting "Sucka For You" which included a Run DMC "It's Like That" cover added on the end, before slipping into "Cool" and some of the most infectiously playful dancing of the day. Synchronised band jamming was one thing, but Anthony Hamilton and his band-slash-back-up-dancers took it to the next level.
Unlike in Sydney, Hamilton opted out of his two biggest hits - "Comin' From Where I'm From" and "Charlene - and instead closed his set with the almost-eight-minute long "Prayin' For You/Superman", giving us our first big highlight of the day as an energised Anthony Hamilton ran off the stage and all through the VIP area while bearing his soul; this followed Leela James running out and joining Hamilton's band by dancing around the stage with a tambourine. It was the first of two live collaborations in the day, and reminded us all that this whole line-up was more like one big community of friends giving us one big soul performance.
Sucka For Love/It's Like That
Cool
Best of Me
Prayin' For You/Superman ** HIGHLIGHT **
It was obvious that the improved sound of the day was going to lead to something significantly better than what was delivered just the day before. The artists seemed less stressed, and hence gave better performances; the fans seemed relived, and hence gave the performers bigger receptions - which in turn lead to even better performances. I started to have hope that by the time D'Angelo is done, we would have witnessed something that was on the level of the neo soul king's eminence.
Angie Stone came out with the same set as she gave in Sydney, only the band seemed to extend things a bit longer, and Angie seemed even more confident than she had been the day before. Belting out everything from "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" to "More Than A Woman" to "Wish I Didn't Miss You", Angie and her incredible band recreated the magic that has her as one of the best in neo-soul.
Musiq Soulchild fared a bit worse with sound, and even though it was still a marked improvement over Sydney, his vocals were still a bit too low throughout his set. Melbourne also got a different set list than Sydney; instead of "IfULeave", hit love song - and one of his best - "Don't Change" softly melted over the crowd; it was a sweet moment despite Musiq cutting it off halfway to direct the band into megahit "Love". After "SoBeautiful" Musiq closed with a triple hit of dancefloor hits "Just Friends (Sunny)", "ForTheNight", and "B.U.D.D.Y" to rile up the Melbourne crowd and turn that slow sway into some synced two-stepping.
One of the great, unique things about the crowd - as was the case in Sydney as well - was the vibe they brought to the day. A Soulfest crowd is a little bit more in tune with the beat, moving smoothly and naturally to the rhythm to make for a lively bunch that wasn't anywhere near the rude and conflicting crowd of a regular music festival.
A DJ and a producer came out on stage first to precede the long awaited arrival of Yasiin Bey (Mos Def); after Sydney missed out on seeing him due to him missing a flight, Melbourne was keen to be able to catch the masterful emcee at work. Mos slowly walked out with red and white flower pedals in his hat, sprinkling them in a line on the stage and looking up at the sky as if he was awaiting for his next instructions, all the while Wildstyle was playing on a big screen behind him.
Wandering to the side of stage and grabbing his signature bright red, vintage-style microphone, Yasiin held the talk piece right against his lips and the beat for Kanye's "Lord Lord Lord" dropped. There's a slickness to the way Mos dances around stage, flipping his feet over each other and hunching his shoulders as if he is in his own little world.
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Oct 10, 2014 at 2:59am PDT
There's no pauses in the raps that Yasiin casually flowed into his red mic, and so tracks like "Auditorium" and "Hip Hop" were precise, satisfying displays of true hip hop. Never one to remain in the centre of anything for too long, he quickly departs "Auditorium" into a Frank Sinatra cover and he constantly plays around with his own echo, letting his very capable singing voice ring out over the entire venue.
Yasiin is an intriguing performer, he looks like he isn't completely present and has gone off onto a higher level while his younger brother - Gold Medal Man - stands behind him with producer Preservation controlling the seamless flow of classics and rarities that has been shaped into this worth-the-wait set. Rather than throw in one or two Black Star classics we got a good chunk of Mos' debut Black on Both Sides with "Mathematics", "Umi Says" and "Hip Hop" placing as the highlights.
Lord Lord Lord
The Boogie Man Song
Casa Bey
Juicy (Biggie Cover)
Auditorium
It Was A Very Good Year (Frank Sinatra Cover)
Hip Hop
Mathematics
Priority
Pistola
Ms Fat Booty
The Panties/Passin' Me By (The Pharcyde Cover) ** HIGHLIGHT **
Umi Says
Travellin' Man
Aloe Blacc came out all dapper and charmed the crowd with a tight, stylish performance of several of his hits, including an extended "You Make Me Smile" and a country-soul version of "Wake Me Up". The triumphant "I'm The Man" is what really got people jumping though, obviously having a profound effect on more than a few front-rowers.
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Oct 10, 2014 at 2:47am PDT
In continuing the strength-to-strength performances of the day Chicago's legendary emcee Common came out with singer Maimouna Youssef in tow. In what was the only calm moment of the set, Com' softly began reciting the lyrics to "Forever Begins" before launching into "The People" and excitedly shuffling back around the stage. You could tell how into their hip hop a Melbourne crowd is when they all explode as soon as "Go" and "I Used to Love H.E.R" come on; it was the most animated the crowd was all day simply because Common has a knack for turning the heat up and whether he is rapping in your face during "Black Majik", slow dancing with a female fan during "Come Close", or busting out the dramatic theatrics and chair destroying frustration during courtroom drama "Testify", the lauded emcee makes sure that there is never a dull moment in his set, especially when he busted out a Melbourne-themed freestyle displaying how much he actually knew about the city in one neat little poetic (and hilarious) package.
Forever Begins
The People
The Corner ("Where I'm From" sample)
Blak Majik
Go ** HIGHLIGHT **
Make Her Say
Get 'Em High/You Don't Know My Name (Alicia Keys Cover)
Come Close
Love of My Life (Erykah Badu Cover)
I Used to Love H.E.R
Testify
Sydney Freestyle
DJ Solo
Speak My Piece/Diamonds
The Light VS So Far to Go
Kingdom
Up next was one of the main differences between Soulfest in Sydney and Soulfest in Melbourne. The unfathomably talented D'Angelo and his band The Vanguards slowly assembled onto the stage and immediately the significant difference that good sound makes became apparent. D looked happier than he did in Sydney; he was smiling and seemed very relaxed as he calmly took a seat on the piano behind mesmerising dancer-singer Kendra "Queen of Spades" Foster.
D'Angelo evokes the spirit of Sly Stone on stage, with shades of Prince, James Brown, George Clinton, and Marvin Gaye shooting threaded through his own unique style. It makes for something that is - as he has always been - on a completely different level to everyone else; unfortunately Sydney never got to fully experience this because of the sound.
All eyes are firmly on D through the entire set, despite big name musicians making up his nine-piece band - the most notable being former Soulquarian and long time collaborator Pino Palladino on electric bass and Blues and Funk MVP Jesse Johnson of The Time on electric guitar.
Though I'd been a few metres from him the day I still couldn't believe that this man was finally here performing live, so when he opened with an extended cover of Funkadelic's "Miss Lucifer's Love" and you could actually hear him, I lost all sense of time. There he was letting his half-slurred soul vocals glow from the stage between his frequent James Brown-esque wails; there we were soaking it all in with one huge collective grin on our faces. To be met with smiles and cheers rather than chants to "turn it [the sound] up" obviously had a big impact on D'Angelo, and so he beamed and jumped around excitedly when he came up front to begin "Left & Right". The funk-soul-dance anthem had us all bouncing around as opposed to swaying slowly to the following "The Charade" which gave us a new taste of the direction D'Angelo's new music is heading in. Live staple "One Mo' Gin" was given an extra special coating of stretched out solos before the well-known "Lady" rang out, with the crowd reaction energising D as he strutted around the stage like he was on top of the world. It was then that Angie Stone and Anthony Hamilton - who were among the bevy of artists watching D'Angelo from the side of the stage - ran out to surprise D and resume the positions they held over a decade ago, singing back up and funking around the stage before D even realised what was going on. Watching D'Angelo laugh and put his arm around them both was a special moment for fans in the audience.
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Oct 10, 2014 at 6:43am PDT
While the band was tight all the way through, it was the Prince cover "She's Always In My Hair" which really exemplified the chemistry between all nine musicians - D'Angelo leading them through an anthemic, celebratory performance before walking off the stage. And then the world stood still for his fans.
D'Angelo came back out with the full band and gave us a simple smile before the notes of classic "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" began. There was no skimping on time here; no teasing us and then ultimately letting us down. D'Angelo and his band took us through a wholly satisfying, extended rendition of the seminal song - a song that even had a great influence on Prince. What's more is that there was no re-work here; all the elements that make the smooth song so incredibly relaxing - even therapudic - were there, built upon with the band's extraordinary musicianship.
Miss Lucifer's Love (Funkadelic Cover)
Left & Right
The Charade
One Mo' Gin
Lady
Always In My Hair (Prince Cover)
Untitled (How Does It Feel) ** HIGHLIGHT **
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Oct 10, 2014 at 5:13am PDT
While D'Angelo's performance had a rough edge to it, Maxwell's was perfectly in line with the dapper look he went for. Stylish to an impossible degree and just as nimble as anyone else on the line up, Maxwell began his set with "Sumthin' Sumthin" which started out with a big sound and then softened down into the sensual MelloSmoothe version. From there it was one hit after the other, and Maxwell jumped into each of them with a well choreographed set of playful moves.
The charm of this man is almost ridiculous as he swaddles the crowd in his irresistibly warm, still-got-it falsetto on songs like the sultry "Bad Habits" and tear-jerker "This Woman's Work" - which was preceded by a salute to Kate Bush and her original. Maxwell knows exactly how to make the crowd melt in his arms, so moments like a big sounding cover of "Simply Beautiful" by Al Green or "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)" were made all the more special by his slick stage presence.
Melbourne's Soulfest was amongst the greatest experiences I have had with live music. If the organisers and performers can improve things that much in 24 hours then I'm brimming with envy just thinking of how strong the tour will be once it reaches Auckland. While it had it's share of issues - namely the pretty terrible ditching of the locals - Melbourne's Soulfest was largely satisfying, and judging from the praise sung while folk exited the park, a huge success.
Now the question is, if the festival does come back next year, how can the promoters top this line up? This is one festival where I wouldn't mind if the line up was recycled over and over again; but they could bring out Bilal? Jaheim? Talib Kewli? The Roots? Q-Tip? Raphael Saadiq? Dwele? Erykah Badu? Lauryn Hill? Jill Scott? Raheem Devaughn? Macy Gray? Eric Benet? Mary J Blige? Calvin Richardson? There's still a healthy pool of artists which fit Soulfest that could possibly be making the trip down under next October/November; but for now, let's just be glad that we got see such distinguished artists giving their very all to a deserving crowd.
Remaining Soulfest Shows
Saturday 25th October - Riverstage Amphitheatre, Brisbane
Sunday 26th October - Western Springs Stadium, Auckland
More information and tickets can be found on the official Soulfest website HERE