Joss Stone & Charles Bradley

Massey Hall, Toronto, ON

Sept. 15^th, 2014

[Review] There are some concerts where you wish you knew every word to every song. Then there are those that you just listen and let the music wash over you. This concert was the latter. Billed as a “Soul Explosion” it certainly lived up to that name and the Massey Hall show in Toronto was their only double-bill together, anywhere.

Joss Stone started things off at first coming across like a shy, demure, down-to-earth almost flower child but once she opened her mouth to sing she had a deep, soulful, powerful presence. She started pursuing a singing career at the age of 13, had a record deal by the time she was 15, and recorded her debut album, “The Soul Session” which was released in 2003 at the age of 16. Now at the ripe old age of 27 she's a seasoned veteran. It's quite evident that singing and music is just a part of her very being.

In her quirky, charming, humorous way she interspersed her songs with little stories that made you feel not so much like a gawking audience member but more like you were sitting around a large dinner table at a casual party. But the real highlight was hearing her smooth yet gravelly voice. It was like she was at one with the music. The only downfall was having difficulty really hearing her over the band but that was just a technical thing. I just wanted to hear more, especially when she really belted it out!

Charles Bradley's performance made me think of what it might have been like back in the down and dirty days of the Apollo Theater. He is soul and has that soul scream down like nobody's business. Even his moves are the epitome of hip gyrating funk. At first though he seemed disconnected from the audience, keeping his eyes closed and doing a lot of that soul screaming. At the point in his set where he left the stage for a costume change, it seemed like a different show when he came back. It was like the show had been started over again with another intro and a fresh start. There were times when the crowd was really into it and I was seemingly missing the plot but was determined to stick it out until the end. Mr. Bradley regaled us with advise about love, lust, sex and how the music reflected all those things as well as some baby-making beats. He got down like James Brown.

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