Leon Bridges review: Suave star delivers riot of retro soul with a spoonful of honey

Soul man: Leon Bridges performs live at Camden's Jazz Cafe
STEVE GILLETT / LIVEPIX
Jimi Famurewa @jimfam10 April 2018

“Can you dig it baby?” asked Leon Bridges, addressing the sold-out crowd at this intimate comeback show in Camden.

It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that even the Texan retro-soul singer’s between-song patter seems to belong to a different age. Having broken through in 2015 — seemingly beamed directly from the early Sixties — Bridges has carved out his own lane of impeccably delivered vintage R&B. Last night at the Jazz Cafe, the 28-year-old former restaurant busboy offered up a riot of old school musicianship that just about avoided tripping into tribute act territory.

It was a studiedly small gig (last time Bridges played the capital he was at Brixton Academy) that had a raw, rough-edged charge from the start. After his sharply dressed band had come on and started to play, Bridges danced into view, typically suave with his trademark slacks, an open-necked animal print shirt and newly relaxed hair that matched his vaguely James Brown moves.

Opening number Smooth Sailin’ provided an early opportunity to savour every note of Bridges’s honey-dipped delivery.

One feature of his style — with its heavy notes of Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson — is that it carries a warm glow of familiarity. This means that even new songs from his forthcoming second record (such as kinky blues number Mrs and the struttingly funky Bad Bad News) got a storming reception. Coming Home (Bridges’s mega-streamed calling card) prompted a mass singalong and Better Man was rendered with a country-rock twist.

It wasn’t all cosy mid-century nostalgia though. An unlikely cover of Ginuwine’s Pony got the crowd to swap jive moves for Nineties grinding — and proved that Bridges has enough timeless star power to pull off just about anything.

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