A fairly long delay proceeded the Aloe Blacc show, and I couldn’t help but feeling he was the one causing it. His backing band,The Grand Scheme, were onstage for over ten minutes performing sound checks and what felt like unprepared grooves - there in place of their absentee leader. But then the beat dropped, Blacc sashayed onstage looking fly as hell, and any disrespectful thought I might have been thinking about him disappeared. Clad in a black fedora, purple button-up, grey vest and classic sunglasses, Blacc seemed to define the word smooth in every move he made.
“Hey Brother,” opened the show, and his guitarist ripped some fiercely funky wah-wahs out of it. Later the band did a song that saluted James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Al Green – Blacc would do a quick dance move to emulate each of their signature moves while the band played bits of the icon’s hit songs. It was definitely a fitting tribute, considering how much a part those greats have played in the style Blacc has picked up and the music he creates.
There was also a song in which he raised his octave to sound like Michael Jackson, and the girls of the crowd lost their mind for a second, fluttering and screaming to thank him for his sexiness. The biggest moment, though, came with the set-closing “I Need A Dollar,” which had everyone singing along. I continued to hear that song coming out of fans’ mouths for the rest of the weekend, offering testament to the fact that Blacc really is the current king of what he does. Long live the king, and the tasty soul hits he continues to give us.
