Live Review: Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Sunshine Brothers

Sunshine Brothers from Perth kicked things off with an impressive set of funk, reggae and dub that was the real deal. All five of the players were superb musicians, each adding their own flavour to a genuine sound that could get tripped-out and dubby with melodica and pulsing bass, and then build up into percussion-fueled funk breakbeats.

Charles Bradley brings with him a back story that everyone knows, his struggles and late turn in the spotlight, so his performances always carry that emotional weight. His band the Extraordinaires set the scene with some brittle and clinical funk before their keyboardist introduced the star of the show. Bradley was given a hero's welcome by the sold out Basement and he played it to the hilt before unleashing that signature scream of his and those soulful, husky, lived-in vocals. With a costume change and reintroduction after half an hour Bradley was back for more, resplendent in black and metallic silver, singing the hell out of his 'straight from the soul' songs such as the heavy groove of Confusion and the pleading angst of How Long. His constant words of humble gratitude lost some of their impact after repeated airings and his dance moves were at times comical yet when he simply stood and sang it was that voice that was the star of the show. Eighty minutes into the show Bradley and band messed up an accent in a stop/start song and it visibly threw the singer. “The spirit is gone,” he said as he stepped back and let the band finish the song before retreating from the stage leaving the Extraordinaires with nervous smiles. They too left quickly and the show finished. No encore, no real farewell and the audience missed out on his signature song Why Is It So Hard. It was a strange and deflating end to what had been an invigorating and entertaining show.