Live Review: Leon Bridges, Ngaiire

Ngaiire arrives on stage in all black with expressive batwing sleeves plus white Pierrot neck ruff. She rolls in trio mode these days, with a drummer and keyboardist; there's no sassy BV trio tonight. Ngaiire sure can sing, though! House On A Rock welcomes us into a smoky, all-night club. There's pre-recorded BVs (probably featuring her aforementioned sassy BV trio). We're desperate to connect (Ngaiire's Blastoma album is a masterpiece), but something gets lost in translation.

Old-time tunes play over the venue sound system to set the time zone for Leon Bridges. His sharp-dressed six-piece backing band strike up before Bridges enters in a dapper cream suit jacket complete with pocket square and patterned tie plus tie pin. He demonstrates some trademark fancy footwork during opener Smooth Sailin'. Far from a background vocalist, Brittni Jessie's syrupy vocals are high up in the mix; she's more of a co-singer. "What's up? How you all dooooooooing?" Bridges enquires. "I'm thirsty, you got the juice? Are you ready to party?" Some of Bridges' favourite dance moves: the bouncy sidestep, the moonwalk, the side-to-side jumps with feet together - he even jives enthusiastically through his slow-dance numbers. And despite all this jumping around he never gets breathless. Better Man, Brown Skin Girl - it's all killer, no filler. Some new songs are also included in tonight's setlist and these prove Bridges ain't going nowhere. 

This outfit is aaaaall class, from the use of this venue's simple red back curtain to the soft lighting we swear we're experiencing everything through a Vaseline-covered lens. Bridges introduces a song about his mum (Lisa Sawyer) and all swoon; the sax solo during this song further elevates. It's all so effortless! The song about his grandpa first clapping eyes on his long-legged grandma (Twistin' & Groovin') is propulsive and Bridges hurtles himself around the stage alternating using his own mic with Jessie's, stage right; Bridges is a shoo-in to play The Scarecrow in The Wiz, dancing as if there are no joints in his body. "About two years ago, I wrote this song and it changed my life," is how Bridges introduces Coming Home. He feigns forgetting the lyrics so the crowd takes the second verse from, "Baby, baby, baby..." Bridges straps on a guitar and they trim down to a three-piece for River, during which Jessie's solo carries pathos. All leave the stage, but there's demand for an encore.

We swear we hear the band start playing Ginuwine's Pony. But it can't be, right? It IS! And whatever you imagine it's like to hear Bridges sing about feeling "horny", scratch that; everything's SO right about this cover. Bridges introduces his backing band one by one, leads us through a call-and-response and sings a couple more of his own songs to close out the night. Bridges and co are undeniably the real deal.