Remember that episode of Sex and the City where Carrie and Charlotte go to see an artist who has pledged to stand silent and still on a stage for days without food and the public watch on in total awe, taking in the soulful but wild journey this woman is going on?
That’s what a Solange concert is like.
Only instead of silence, it’s the most triumphant, powerful beats you’ve ever heard, and instead of standing still, your girl’s prancing around the stage with purpose and instead of the no food, the entire audience is being fed soul food that will nourish your spirit for eternity.
Credit: Daniel Boud
Solange was wise in choosing to hold her concert at the Sydney Opera House, once again, as it’s a venue that marries perfectly with her divine vision and artistic energy.
I had heard that not only was her stage presence electric and poignant, but the stage itself is something else, like that time she had a giant orb ball on stage.
This time there was no ball, but the set was still unlike anything I’d ever seen before, featuring a set of stairs that she climbed and descended like a goddess throughout the show.
Solange has stage theatrics down to a science. From her dance moves that shift from smooth-as-silk to fiery and erratic seamlessly to match the vibe of the song, to her twirling of the microphone to her movements that are in unison with the other artists on stage.
Credit: Daniel Boud
The Solange machine requires many cogs and although she’s the driving force, her other cogs (read: her band) are equally important.
Solange along with her singers, band and troupe of dancers commanded their own places on the stage (shoutout to the drummer curiously tucked away under the stairs) but moved as one to the songs from the hugely successful When I Get Home album.
Notice how I didn’t call her fellow songstresses ‘back-up singers’, ‘coz that’s not how they appeared on-stage.
Credit: Daniel Boud
All three ladies (that includes Solange) had uniquely different but perfectly complementary voices and they each got their time in the spotlight which you so rarely see.
When they sang side-by-side, they were positioned in a row with Solange at the end, not front and centre, not elevated, but at the end of the line.
You see, what’s being presented isn’t merely a concert to show off the singer’s hits. It’s an intelligent, artistic, transcendent experience, and a magnificent one at that.
The entire evening was an incredible spiritual journey, and Solange and friends were our spirit guides.
Tonight’s performance by Solange will be the final show in the Concert Hall before the venue undergoes its biggest upgrade since the Opera House opened in 1973, temporarily closing for up to two years. A historical moment for the Opera House.
