The first time I saw Detroit neo-soul r&b crooner Dwele perform was several years ago at Space 550, a huge club in San Francisco's warehouse district usually reserved for gay circuit parties. He opened for Slum Village, the legendary and now-defunct D-Town rap high priests, in what was essentially a glorified track date, and didn't take the stage until after 1 AM. As soon as he stepped out, though, the wait and the late hour faded and Dwele served notice that he had arrived. Slum Village brought him back to sing the hook on their classic "Tainted" - so irresistible it launched his career - and Dwele was well on his way.
Discovered by the late great producer J. Dilla, Dwele (full Swahili name Andwele, meaning "God has brought me") has seen his career grow by leaps and bounds from singing hooks to opening track dates in the middle of the night to playing prestige gigs like the Yoshi's Oakland engagement I was privileged to attend last night. Drawing from all three of his well-received albums, "Subject," "Some Kinda..." and the current "Sketches of a Man" - quiet storm and urban contemporary format linchpins - Dwele showed up at Yoshi's with a horn section, two superb backup vocalists, drums, guitars and a ridiculous keyboardist, and replicated the phat full swoony sound of his records. Disarmingly easy going with a personal style to match his smooth vocals, Dwele had the sell-out crowd in the palm of his hand from start to finish.
Specializing in slyly observed tales of romance and money in the urban milieu, Dwele opened with the atypical but jammin' "Body Rock" from "Sketches," and launched into a seamless progression of songs that played like a high concept album come to life. The crowd went nuts for his evocative "Old Lovas" and witty "I'm Cheatin'" (he's cheating on his girl with his girl, she's like two women in one) with their sophisticated but singalong-able choruses, and had us with him all the way on the straightforward and steady rockin "Flapjacks" complete with adroitly placed male audience participation. By the time he left the stage to dance with various women, the audience was in a frenzy and he played us perfectly. My only quibble is that I wish he had sung the hook to "Flashing Lights," the off-the-chain Kanye West collabo that hasn't left my iPod in close to two years.
Too soon the show was over and my tablemates and I looked at each other and laughed. He fully inhabited the old show biz adage to leave them wanting more - and we do! If you have a chance to catch Dwele's show, he will be at Yoshi's for the next two nights. If he's performing anywhere near you, do yourself a favor and check him out. You won't regret it.
No comments:
Post a Comment