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Raphael Saadiq – Bimbo’s 365 –
It occurred
to me during the set, (and I am a fan of the man) that Saadiq has quietly
amassed a strong catalog of songs that soul music lovers know intimately. As he
breezed through tunes from Tony! Toni! Tone’!, Lucy Pearl, and from his solo
career – Bay Area heads sang along as if belting out a standard.
The show’s
highlight for my $22? The rocked out versions of Be Here and Excuse Me. Blazing
with four guitar players (sometimes five when Saadiq has his bass in-hand), the
band thumped and thrived behind musical director/guitarist Rob Bacon. I would
love to tell you the rest of the band’s lineup but Saadiq never said their
names. I recognized Bacon – a longtime Saadiq cohort, and I think one of the
other cats was Kenya Gruv.
Songs I
recall being played:
The show
started with Marvin Gaye’s version of the National Anthem.
Be Here
Love that
Girl
Ohh Girl
100 Yard
Dash
Dance
Tonight
Still Ray
Charlie Ray
Tick-Tock (Saadiq
forgot words to second verse)
Get
Involved
Excuse Me
Feels Good
If I Had no
Loot
Ask of You
Just Me and
You
Pillow
Anniversary
It Never
Rains in
Staying in
Love
The encore
was:
Callin’
(with guest singer)
Big Easy (New
song about Katrina hurricane)
Overall,
another very good performance by Saadiq who seems a bit more focused at this
point in his career than he may have been in the past. The songs I heard from
his latest album have a 60’s Motown feel but that is nothing new if you have
been listening to Saadiq at any point in his songwriting career. The difference
this time is that the product appears more polished and it has the backing of
Columbia Records.