“I love you too,” admitted a proud Charles Bradley to his fans at the Crescent Ballroom. It was one of probably ten times he proclaimed his adoration to the near sell out in Phoenix that came to witness someone recently considered as an “ overnight sensation.”
Although Bradley sports a manly appearance with a gold medallion and typical James Brown outfit on stage, this one time Mr. Dynamite impersonator is sincere to the fullest. His chiseled weathered face holds numerous stories of hard-luck and perseverance, but his spirited gratitude shows this 65 year old refuses to accept this late in life good fortune for granted. Just check out his heart attack inducing stage split midway through his performance.
By now most in the know has heard the story of Charles Bradley via the well received 2012 documentary Soul of America, that displays his life-long struggles, eventually leading up to his very successful 2011 debut record release (No Time For Dreaming) on Daptone Records at age 62. With a solid 2013 followup album called Victim of Love, playing big summer festival stages and being sampled by Jay-Z, Bradley is now a legit touring act: selling out clubs and now making a living utilizing his powerful pipes that have earned him the nickname – The Screaming Eagle of Soul. And when this eagle spread his arms and does his mic stand acrobatics, he never comes across as over-the top or gimmicky.
Bradley has recorded his two albums with the renowned Menahan Street Band featuring members of Antibalas, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and the Budos Band. His touring band this round of shows is dubbed as His Extraordinaires and features a backbone of the many of the same vintage funk and soul instrumental chops as the pre-mentioned outfit.
Bradley’s hour and a half show was very much a pumped up affair and although he’s sucked up a lot of influence in both sound and style from The Godfather of Soul over the years, the words he belts certainly pour from his own mind and heart. Sometimes Bradley’s stage banter runs on cliché with ramblings about making the world a better place and needing to love one another, but once set to music, his stories of struggle and hard times rub forth as relevant odes mixed with blood, sweat and tears.
When getting on bended knee during “How Long” or tossing aside his suit jacket and gyrating during “You Put The Flame On It,” Bradley had the crowd roaring: a treat in this crowed neo soul scene of Mayer Hawthorne and Fitz and the Tantrums who borrow directly from those artists of Bradley’s era. Although Bradley is the real deal, the only thing missing from his performance was a set of lovely female back-up singers that would have made sultry soul number like “Hurricane” a true club melt-down.
Midway through the second set after a quick wardrobe change, the band drifted out as Bradley shouted the reverb-soaked vocal intro to the psychedelic soul circus of “Confusion.” Finishing the set, Bradley left the stage briefly before coming back to his new album’s title track, “Victim of Love,” encoring with the autobiographical “Why Is It So Hard.” There are so few acts today that can connect so emotionally with their audience at a level that transcends preconceived bias or musical taste, but Charles Bradley has that special gift to make each and everyone feel like they’ve finally made it too.
