Three soul music icons finally made it to the Barbican for this special, one-night-only event.
London was hit by a ‘Soul Explosion’ last night as three musicians steeped in the sounds of soul, R&B, gospel and jazz graced the stage of the Barbican Hall. The initial announcement for the event, originally scheduled for 2020 but delayed due to the pandemic, surprised this writer with its impressive but unexpected line-up. Producers Soul Motion pulled off quite the coup in securing Regina Belle, Angela Winbush, and Brenda Russell for this one-off showing. The audience, many of whom had likely been waiting over a decade to see at least one of the three singers live in concert, were high on anticipation, primed also by the pre-show DJ blasting soul and funk tunes into the auditorium.
Regina Belle was first up. She was last in London 18 years ago, she told us, recalling a rather unfortunate mispronunciation of her first name. Fuelled with nervous energy for her belated return, Belle was incandescent. “Don’t let the grey hairs fool you, baby,” she quipped after storming through renditions of Phyllis Hyman’s ‘You Know How to Love Me’ and her first solo single ‘Show Me the Way’. She credited Hyman for helping her explore the full expanse of her voice, which remains deliciously rich and elastic. Her set was primarily uptempo, though nodded to her big balladry with compressed versions of ‘Make It Like It Was’, ‘If I Could’, and her duet with Peabo Bryson ‘A Whole New World’ (perhaps the biggest commercial hit of the evening). She sung a moving version of Leon Russell’s ‘A Song For You’ directly to the audience before closing with her moody hit ‘Baby Come To Me’ – performed with the same passion she gave the number back in 1989.
A high-kicking Angela Winbush was next on the bill, entering the stage with a rendition of the René & Angela classic ‘I’ll Be Good’. Her voice, like Belle’s, remains a knockout. Tackling her tune ‘Angel’ – her first single from her debut album Sharp (1987), recorded after her acrimonious split from René Moore – Winbush pushed her voice to its stratospheric heights with apparent ease. A consummate producer as well as a singer-songwriter, she commanded the band through renditions of ‘My First Love’ (which she originally penned for Janet Jackson), ‘Your Smile’, and closing number ‘Secret Rendezvous’ with oozing musicality. I would have loved to have heard Winbush’s ‘I’ve Learned to Respect (The Power of Love)’ (first recorded by Stephanie Mills), but I can’t blame her for wanting to keep the energy high.
Brenda Russell had the challenging task of closing the evening while battling with a chest infection that meant her voice struggled in places. She soldiered through her first few performances and gradually warmed into the set, getting the audience on their feet for the jaunty ‘A Little Bit of Love’ and the mellow ‘In the Thick of It’. Acknowledging Luther Vandross’ immaculate cover, ‘If Only For One Night’ was delivered with tenderness. Following her signature tune ‘Piano in the Dark’, Russell closed the concert with the wonderful ‘Get Here’ – which felt markedly poignant for this belated concert two years in the making. Singing about a lover separated by geography and circumstance, Russell sings: “I don’t care how you get here, just get here if you can.” I’m sure the audience felt the same way about these three artists.
