Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings@ Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth(12/12/10)

Wed 15th Dec, 2010 in Gig Reviews

There’ s a universal appeal to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings -one which was evident as the patron-swamped front gates opened and the Fremantle Arts Centre amphitheatre was hastily filled with faces of every colour, creed and age group. No other band in the world could so successfully destroy the generation gap. You could take your mother to this show as easily as you could go buck wild with young whippersnapper friends – which was pretty much the vibe of what was happening. The entire spectrum of the music appreciating public was successfully united by the essence of soul and funk music itself; there was genuine energy and ‘soul’ captured in the notes and the power of the songs affected everyone within earshot. This is music that represents an era that has long since died, just as magnetic tape fell victim to pro-tools and piano notes became midi signals. Perhaps the appeal of the Dap Kings stems from a feeling that they are all we have left of a golden period of music. This is the real deal, it’s live, it’s tight, it’s super-slick and Ms. Jones brings purely transcending front-woman power like no other performer alive today.

As the Arts Centre grounds were overrun by an impressive onslaught of various people – complimented quite perfectly by a balmy summer afternoon, DJ Paul Gamblin and later Miss Goldie provided highly predictable and inoffensive tunes that blended into the background ambience. A brief interlude with the Victor Valdes Trio delving into pure Mariachi territory, (complete with extravagant harp playing) was a pleasant and slightly amusing Mexican muzak experience that would have been erased from the audience’s minds by the end of the evening.

As the sun disappeared beneath the horizon and the crowd reached a restless capacity, the Dap Kings began their grand entrance underneath a shimmering chandelier. With MC duties skilfully handled by the ever-endearing guitarist Binky Griptite. As the band filed out, it became dismayingly apparent that band leader and Daptone records founder Bosco Mann (aka Gabriel Roth) was nowhere to be seen. Was this truly the Dap Kings? Without the permanently sunglasses-adorned band leader and founder present, it was tough not to be a little disappointed. He was replaced by a striking young lass on bass, but when it was clear that her chops on the low end register were up to par, all was forgiven. Band leading duties were quite comfortably handled by Griptite throughout the evening – and the tightness and professionalism of the band shone through, even without their most essential member.

Of course, no member of this amazing band could be as essential and professional as the amazing Sharon Jones, who made her entrance after the Dap Kings had successfully warmed up the crowd by jumping immediately into a slick funk cover number. Launching into instrumental ‘The Reason’ from their latest LP, Jones exploded on the stage with an energy that would make an ADHD addled toddler feel lazy. So much sass. Where does this woman get her energy night after night? Nobody may ever know. But damn it’s infectious.

Barely stopping to catch her breath, she held the crowd in the palm of her hand from her first pitch-perfect line. Backed by one seriously ferocious brass section and a pair of lovely ‘Dapettes’ on backing vocals, they absolutely annihilated the audience with a flawless performance, chiselled by a long year on the road. The band ripped through a grand selection of tracks from I Learned the Hard Way with a few older numbers sprinkled throughout.

The tightness of the Dap Kings is profound. So calm and collected, the band remained relaxed and focused, leaving the task of ensnaring the audience to the captivating Ms. Jones. Smoothly stepping in cool unison, the band jammed on grooves and extended songs with perfect time and focus; they were truly impressive to behold – The late James Brown would have been proud of their extreme synchronicity.

Ms. Jones and the Dap Kings successfully made the older, ‘whiter’ members of the crowd remember where their hips were located; the entire amphitheatre was shaking in unison within moments of them taking the stage. There was a wholesome feeling of freedom and unity within the crowd – so who hired Nazi security guards to keep them under control? Seriously, the only detriment to the entire night was the complete and utter ignorance of the bouncers. That this event even needed heavy security in the first place was a joke – but each time Ms. Jones asked audience members up on stage to dance with her, a frustratingly one-dimensional bouncer would push them away and drag them off. A stern note to security staff – It’s part of the fucking act, back the fuck off. For their rendition of Better Things to Do, Ms. Jones invited a young male member of the audience to dance with her on stage, which was hilarious and captivating – once he finally managed to make it on stage – the security guards had forcefully pushed him back into the audience a couple of times. Ms. Jones was well aware of this, and told security to back off several times and even taking a few direct digs at them towards the end of the set. This isn’t the main stage at Big Day Out, dudes, take out your frustration somewhere else. What kind of society do we live in where we have to be policed so heavily at a gig like this?

Luckily, the Dap Kings were so damn good that it was easy to forget the ignorance of the security staff. Ms. Jones continued to own the audience, ceasing only once during the set to remove her heels (which probably made most everyone present amazed that she even had shoes on in the first place, the way she had been tearing up the stage) for a damn fine dance breakdown, before promptly returning her footwear to complete the night. The set wrapped up with an absolutely righteous rendition of The Dap Dip that blew out into an amazingly energetic extended version that had the entire audience losing their shit.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings left the stage after what only felt like a few minutes, but the crowd wasn’t prepared to leave things there and loudly applauded for more. Griptite returned to the stage to charismatically demand harder begging, resulting in some very genuine, encore-enticing screams. Returning for an amazing version of 100 days, 100 nights complete with classic instrument-by-instrument breakdown and solo treatment, the band tied things up as cleanly and professionally as possible. Indeed, a totally flawless performance.

The Dap Kings have an amazing way of producing music that seems to come from a very real place, even though it is born from a nostalgic notion and revival of old styles, their engrossing performance transcends any concerns about originality and becomes a unique and powerful experience that any fan of music, young, old or otherwise, should witness.