Live Review: Bilal, Empire Electric, JONES Jnr

Sydney duo JONES Jnr kicked things off in front of a pretty small crowd at the Hi-Fi. Not that their enthusiasm was dented by this - these guys played a very solid and smooth set. Singer Ev Jones was hard to fault vocally and moved around interestingly on stage, delivering a cool vibe to start the show.

Amping up the soul for the night were the very underrated four-piece Electric Empire. The indie roots outfit certainly got the crowd grooving away with their selection of songs and their very slick falsettos. Each of these musicians not only played the shit out of their instruments, they also sang the house down.

Bilal's band came out and played a five minute or so intro that started to feel like forever until the man himself smoothly walked onto the stage with his backing singers. He oozed confidence straight off the bat – black shades 'n' all – and ripped into West Side Girl in slinky fashion. The singer drifted around the stage as if he was content with just feeling the music. Despite being able to make a crowd completely weak at the knees, the most memorable moments were the simple soul ditties that you can't help but smile to when you hear. Soul Sista was infectious and garnered the biggest reaction from the dedicated crowd. That, along with Sometimes, took everyone back to when Bilal started and those songs and others off his 2001 debut, 1st Born Second, certainly haven't lost any of their magic. Back To Love, off his latest album, A Love Surreal, was another highlight. The encore of All Matter was a vocal marvel, but the song did seem to drag on a little bit longer than needed. Fans of neo-soul would've walked away feeling all warm and fuzzy inside after this show.