Saw the great Solomon Burke at the Gibson a few weeks ago, thanks to Josh Lampkins for great tix and backstage passes. You gotta dig a 400 pound guy who comes onstage in a wheelchair, is loaded onto a throne -yes, a throne- and sings most of the show with his young grandson standing nearly motionless on one side and a nubile unidentified girl on the other constantly mopping his shaven head (what-quit show business?).
Still, the voice is just what you want it to be, even if most of the songs were done as fragments - the set seemed more like a long medley. All the hits - "Down In The Valley," "Got To Get You Off My Mind," "Everybody Needs Somebody." etc. Tight band,always alert to what seemed to be a turn-on-a-dime set list, but basically a chitlins circuit show with a bit of added jive and some tracks from the new "Nashville" album, produced by Buddy Miller, no less. Most of the pretty girls in the audience ended up on stage by invitation from the king himself or one of his minions, dancing or simply watching.
Went backstage but too late to greet the great man himself. The king had left the building, leaving us supplicants waiting for the next royal appearance.
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