One of the most anticipated events in London for some time now.   There was originally only one date set at Hammersmith Apollo which is a little confusing as the powers that be must have known how very popular this would be, we arrived at this added Brixton gig as we just couldn’t wait.

This was to turn into one of the most frustrating nights we had ever experienced at a live performance. 

Warm –ups on the night included Megan Rochelle (of “The One You Need” and “Let Go” fame) and the quite brilliant Algebra who was unfortunately stopped in her tracks by faulty equipment and we didn’t get to enjoy her final song.  This, sadly, is not the limit of the venue’s shortcomings as we were soon to find out.

Joe emerged to perform a barrage of his hits over the last decade and more.  He looked like he was in a hurry for the most part, as the whole thing was based on a verse, chorus, switch.  The kind of thing you would hear a DJ do in a high impact club set.  He felt it necessary to remove garments at different stages of the act from his top half till clad in just a tight white vest, to the delight of the largely female audience; needs must.  Nevertheless, his performance was very good indeed, finished to our delight by a mini acoustic session, comprising Joe and his guitar.

Next up were Boyz II Men, these days without Michael "Bass" McCary who in 2003, left the group and retired from performing due to his ongoing battle with scoliosis.

Dressed in gear that you would have expected to see them in during the early 90’s and featuring dance routines from the same era, these guys really know how to do it.  Entering and exiting the stage with the smash “Motownphilly”, they packed their set with so many of the records that so many of us grew up with. “Water Runs Dry” brought the loudest ‘sing-a-long’ of the night and “I’ll Make Love To You” coupled with a rose for the majority of the ladies near the front of the stage was a nice touch and a formula I’m guessing they haven’t changed for over 10 years.

Their vocal range is excellent and the harmonies between the three were – as you can imagine – flawless.  Unfortunately, the microphone levels were not set right or controlled properly between the three and the acoustics of the room contributed to make it a little frustrating in that respect.  Again, this rests solely in the hands of the hapless staff at Brixton Academy.  More to come….

Even if you haven’t been a fan of Boyz II Men, you’ll find you know the words to most of them, a tribute to how long they have been around and at the forefront of black music.  I must say it was a pleasure to see Boyz II Men finally perform, it’s been far too long, I hope this go some way to helping them achieve the heights they did in the 90’s.

Until now, none of the live instruments were used, excluding the guitar used in Joe’s acoustic session.  But it was time for Brian McKnight which the organisers had clearly placed the most importance on, and made it obviously that in their eyes he was “headlining”.

The stage was  subtly lit and dressed in white drapes and for some reason all this was done in front of the crowd, which completely nullified any impact it would have had if it was done ‘behind the curtain’.

The performance was very over elaborate with Mr McKnight appearing as a silhouette behind a screen – a little bit boy-band-esque in my opinion.  Entering with the new hit “Used To Be My Girl” followed by a rendition of the Luther Vandross classic “Never Too Much”, that was the end of the fast stuff.

That’s all good, as he says himself – for ten CDs he’s been writing love songs, and that was the essence of this set.   Being honest, quite a few I didn’t know but loads that I did and all performed brilliantly.   It was inspiring to hear “Back At One” and “Anytime” performed in front of me as I’d heard for years on the countless live versions in the collection.

The man comes from a talented family and has himself passed this down to his children, who – to the surprise of everybody – emerged to perform with their father – big things to come from the McKnight clan.

The man did come across very vein with constant physical suggestions that his clothes were going to come off – thankfully this never happened.  While his kids were performing, he returned to his silhouette screen for his next song.  He proceeded to get undressed and redressed again, in a classic cream suit.  Nice touch to see someone putting clothes on – but at the same time, something you would more expect to see at Wembley Arena packed full of 15 year old girls.  

There were no signs of the grand piano but he did sit at a set of keys for a couple of songs.  His band was very accomplished too – we couldn’t take our eyes off the larger than life bass player – who fittingly was the last man off the stage.

And so we come to the venue.  I can confidently say that I have never had a worse view of a performance.  We were upstairs in the seating area, and although we already knew this wouldn’t be perfect, we were located far more favourably than the vast majority with us.

Ordered to sit down the entire time, you could not see a third of the stage – the most important third.  When Joe and Brian McKnight were performing you could not see them at all, if you were to have sat down.  Everybody was standing, pushing and barging for a glimpse of anything happening on the stage, which spoiled the whole event.  Luckily Boyz II Men utilised more of the stage which gave us more of a look.  I honestly feel for the people that had much worse views than us, they probably didn’t see 80% of what happened on that stage. 

To add insult to injury, Brian McKnight had a screen projecting a live image of his performance behind him, to aim the people at the back to see him clearly.   Unfortunately the view of this screen was blocked by a massive light support beam.  The inept staff at the Brixton academy didn’t even bother to see what this would look like from the perspective of the people it was intended for.

As for the sound, it was clearly not geared for the people upstairs.  I know a few guys who were downstairs who also complained of the mic levels not being right during the Boyz II Men set, but the sound being ‘OK’. 

The biggest issue here is misinformation.  None of the tickets for the seating upstairs mention “Restricted View” and it is far worse than “restricted”.   I’ve been to venues with a “restricted view” and still seen everything but the left foot of the third backing vocalist.  I’ve also been to football matches who warn of the same and still been able to see more than 90% of the pitch.  This was different.  I have never been so disappointed in a venue, and would go far as to say I would never go there again.  I advise everyone else to take my advice.

JS

Read The Soul Kitchen interview with Joe right here