Thursday 20 January 2011

REVIEW - Lee Fields & The Expressions @ Scala / The Impellers @ Audio

Welcome back!

I hope you return from the weekend refreshed, invigorated and ready to face the forthcoming week head on?

It’s been a while since I made it out to see a decent band and just like London buses these kind of things always turn up in pairs, as was the case this weekend. I return back here today after an extremely enjoyable weekend which saw me join up with my fellow Hook & Sling resident DJ, Hoppin’ John and head out for a weekend of live Funk & Soul.

Lee Fields & The Expressions – 16/07/2010 – Live @ Scala, London


After several, tube and taxi dramas, Friday saw us finally heading over to Scala in Kings Cross for Lee Fields & The Expressions. This was an artist I’d wanted to see for some time, being a huge fan of both his 70’s output as well as his newer material.

A fairly small crowd showed considering the size of both the artist and the venue, but what was lacking in numbers was definitely made up with atmosphere on the night. Lee Fields took to the stage and totally commanded the crowd with an electrifying performance.


Intro & Lee Fields entrance @ Scala


Stand out tracks for me were ‘Love Comes & Goes’, ‘Ladies’ and a great cover of Syl Johnson’s ‘Sorry ‘Bout Dat‘. Lee Fields 2004 Truth & Soul release ‘Honey Dove’, which is one of my favourites from his discography, had the crowd completely captivated by the sheer emotion and energy of his delivery.

My only minor criticism would be that I’d have liked to have heard more of his older releases and also things seemed a little rushed due to the venue being turned around after for another club night. However in the end what we got on the night was a faultless and electrifying performance from a true professional. Lee Fields showed us just why he’s been a prominent figure on the soul scene for the best part of 40 years.






Lee Fields – Money I$ King – Scala (Youtube video courtesy of NIGELGENTRY)








Lee Fields – Honey Dove – My World



The Impellers - 17/07/2010 – Live @ Audio, Brighton


Saturday saw us heading out of London and down to the coast for The Impellers charity gig at Audio. As the regulars amongst you may well know we roll hard for The Impellers, aside from being a simply fantastic funk outfit, they’re also an all round nice bunch of guys (and gal!), and it’s always a pleasure to hook up with them.

I had been looking forward to this gig for quite some time, especially as they were going to be playing the new material from their forthcoming album in full, which they are just putting the finishing touches to.



The band had chosen to support The Edward Starr Charitable Trust with the gig. The charity is close to the bands hearts and does some excellent and highly commendable project work with sick, disadvantaged and underprivileged children. If you have a minute (and perhaps some small change to spare) click HERE to check out the charity and also donate.

The Impellers were fresh from a blistering performance at the Saint Paul Soul & Jazz Festival (you can check out a video clip below) and were on tip top form.


The Impellers – Pick It Up, Lay It In The Cut -Live @ Saint Paul Soul & Jazz Festival (Youtube video courtesy of JPPPRODUCT)


Being the first time they had played in Brighton for some time, which is also their home town, meant the venue was packed with a local crowd who were really up for it. They dropped a two hour set in two parts and completely satisfied the crowd with a good mix of covers, tracks from Robot Legs (their first LP, which you can pick up HERE) as well as the new material, which was amazing!



A fantastic energetic gig from a band that deserve a lot more exposure than they are currently getting on the music scene (IMHO).

If you’re in London this week you can catch them playing at THE FUNK SESSIONS on Thursday 22nd July with The Fantastics and Randa & The Soul Kingdom at The Pigalle Club in Piccadilly. Support comes in the form of DJ Adrian Gibson and his record collection.

More details can be found HERE.









The Impellers – Be Ready – Robot Legs



Enjoy today’s post and support the artists by buying their music. Stay safe and I’ll be back here shortly with something cool for you!

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