aaamusic | On 18, Nov 2010

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Bologna, Novembre 5th

Ten years after his first EP, “Freakin the frame”, Jamie Lidell comes to Bologna to showcase his new album “Compass”, a contagious mix of soul, funk, electronic, rock and retro pop, produced with the collaboration of Beck. In 2005 the English singer won the audience with Multuply, a pop-soul album, while in 2008 Lidell paid tribute to James Brown releasing Jim.

I wait for the concert start smoking a cigarette and telling a friend of mine the incredible emotions felt during his performance at the Oxegen Festival and in St. Gallen, when Jamie comes towards me together with his band, I stand still thinking of those feelings and I wonder what I have to expect from the forthcoming gig.

You never know what to expect from his genius, every live show is unique.

“Completely Exposed”, opening track of Compass, perfectly reflects his sound and how much he’s uninhibited in front of his audience. Another time he said that every gig must be different from the previous and from the coming ones and my experience confirms his statement: Ireland, Switzerland and Bologna, three different countries and stages, the same band but three different performances, Lidell is never predictable, he plays with such an energy and creativity that he catches people unprepared.

Obviously Lidell is incredibly talented, he’s nicknamed The Voice, thanks to his ability of improvise new rhythms and melodies using a sampler and his powerful vocals. “The ring” warms people up with its incessant rhythm, the show goes on at full steam till the scratchy pace of “I wanna be your telephone”.

After that beautiful song, Jamie takes a break playing “Another Day”, ended singing a cappella as usual and enjoy the luxury of doing amazing vocal virtuosities that remove all doubts about his vocal bravura.

But surprises are not finished: the band go out and Jamie remains alone with his sampler extemporizing a 7-minute piece of pure electronic, after this incredible proof of his genius the gig goes on with the cover of “Enough’s enough” by Jackson 5 and “Green light” sung with the support of a megaphone. Jamie pays tribute to whitney Houston as well singing a cappella “I wanna dance with somebody”, proving that there’s a tight link between tradition and innovation and creating harmony and people excitement.

Lidell and his band slows down o the encore singing the sensual “She needs me”, but the dreaming atmosphere is immediately substituted by the energetic rhythm of “Multiply”, released in 2005.

I wait for him after the show and he comes out after few minutes smiling at my camera, so I shake his hand and I say “thank you”. I don’t know where Jamie will be carried by his compass but I’m sure that he will keep amazing us.

Author and photos: Sara Cicchella