It’s probably safe to say that there isn’t anyone out there working quite as hard to put on an engaging and energetic live show as Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. The band, which played the Crystal Ballroom with The Heavy, not only sold out the show, but brought down the house as well.
The Heavy opened up the night, though it feels wrong to call it night at that point. Sun peaked in through the curtains at the venue when the band took the stage at 8 p.m. The crowd was a little thin to start, but people filtered in gradually throughout the set, filling out the floor nicely.Hailing from Noid, England, the Heavy is a neo-soul band with a distinct blues-rock feel to their music. Sadly, for such rocking music, the crowd was pitifully still. Singer Kelvin Swaby actually told one guy up front that he was the liveliest guy in the audience. Despite the lack of dancing, Swaby and the rest of the band seemed unphased and put on a lively, engaging show, talking to the audience in between songs and getting a bit of participation from the crowd as well.
If you didn’t bring earplugs for this set, though, your ears probably hated you. This band is loud—really loud. Swaby has an impressive set of pipes, and the band’s music stays true to their name: it’s really heavy. Spot on drumming from Chris Ellul rounded out thick bass lines from Spencer Page and guitar driven melodies from Dan Taylor. Their music—both live and recorded—has a deep fullness to it and a certain kind of gritty edge, easily filling out the space around them—even in a room as large as the Crystal. In fact, despite the hit-or-miss acoustics at the Crystal Ballroom, this band held its own and still managed to sound surprisingly good.
The Dap-Kings took the stage next, playing a nice little opening warm-up for their set. The whole band was dressed in well-tailored suits, and the horn section had perfected their synchronized dancing. After a long intro, Sharon Jones finally jumped out on stage, accompanied by two female back up singers.
Jones was dressed to the nines, with strappy little high-heeled sandals and a short, black fringed dress. To say that this woman is magnetic would be an understatement. Everything about her dares you to try to look away as she shimmies and jumps around stage, wildly crooning into her mic. The Dap-Kings also had a certain bounce in their step. While Jones commanded the stage with wild and reckless abandon, the band had a clean, put together feel, with a seemingly calculated, yet effortless air to their performance. They were the perfect complement to Jones' vocals and movements, providing crisp instrumentation while never detracting from the overall show at hand.
Jones and the band balanced wonderfully between high energy classic funk and soul and some slower songs like “Window Shopping.” Though the tempo may have changed, the energy level never dropped in Jones' delivery and movements. Jones moves and sings like a female James Brown. Her face is unbelievably expressive, and she seems to sing with her whole body. At times, the show got theatrical and a tad vaudevillian. Sprinkled in with her regular songs were lighthearted conversations with the audience, short stories about her travels and tidbits of unsolicited advice. Jones did one song interspersed with a story about her ancestors (whether they were real or imagined was a little unclear) and the different dances they used to do, with her acting them out as she went.
A signature move for Jones during her live show is to pull up audience members to dance on stage with her. True to form, Jones started by pulling up a couple guys a few songs into her set, one of whom was clearly thrilled to be up there and just a little awkward. She even tried to pull up our own photographer, Colin McLaughlin, but he politely declined and instead got his face delicately caressed by Jones.
That’s not where the melophobe loving stopped though. Let me switch gears here for a second and say that I myself got pulled on stage by the vivacious Miss Jones, along with several other girls. She grabbed us one by one and lined us up to dance with her, shoving a mic in our faces occasionally to sing out bits of the chorus. I can safely say that dancing on stage with Jones in front of a sold out show at the Crystal Ballroom was probably one of the most thrilling concert experiences I have ever had. Toward the end of the song, she had us each dance off stage one by one, leaving me last and alone on stage with the band and her. “Are you ready?” she asked, my face only inches away from hers. All I managed was a nervous "yes." “I said, are you ready?” she repeated. This time my answer was a little more boisterous, and she waved me to the crowd, as I tossed my hair and shook my hips into a pit of sweaty, dancing bodies.
Stage dancing aside, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are a thrilling musical experience and top-notch performers. There’s a reason they play to sell out crowds. Rolling Stone may have called their latest album a “museum exhibit,” saying that “there's only so much she can do to breathe life into music so in thrall to the past,” but taking one look at their live show, it’s clear that this band is anything but old or tired.
