Review
Publication date : Tuesday, March 25th 2008 - 10 967 views
Junior Kelly @ Paris
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It is hard to be disappointed after a Junior Kelly concert. The man is too generous on stage for that. One can never say enough about how Junior Kelly is, on stage, one of the most professional artists touring Europe. The riddims, held with a master's hand, betray many hours of rehearsal. His show is always carefully prepared, the musicians have their instructions for every track. Beware of mistakes, which do not escape him. Everything is set, calculated. The first pull up does not come until 30 minutes into the concert (Blaze, played almost as ska), as if Junior Kelly were saving up his effects. And it works.
It is hard to be disappointed after a Junior Kelly concert. The man is too generous on stage for that. One can never say enough about how Junior Kelly is, on stage, one of the most professional artists touring Europe. The riddims, held with a master's hand, betray many hours of rehearsal. His show is always carefully prepared, the musicians have their instructions for every track. Beware of mistakes, which do not escape him. Everything is set, calculated. The first pull up does not come until 30 minutes into the concert (Blaze, played almost as ska), as if Junior Kelly were saving up his effects. And it works.
Before that, the singjay has reeled off his rather recent hits, leaving the oldies for the end. A quick start on a fairly swiftly dispatched Tough Life, then Baby can we meet, Missing You (his latest hit to date, with a backing singer in the role of Bar-bee), Keep your joy... He even plays a still unreleased track, Same Way, recorded for the French label Soul Vybz. In the meantime, his cover of Bob Marley's Kaya (in ska, and not used to introduce his musicians) had already started to stir the crowds.
With Blaze, the show has just taken off. Sick a dem stories on the I Swear follows, then The more I see her (Hard times), already confirmed as live particle accelerators. Junior Kelly gives a lot, and the crowd gives it back. We are back to familiar sequences: a muscular Black from the start serves as a springboard for Boom Draw (and its traditional anti hard drugs speech), which we know will frame his tribute to Marley, Rebel Music. Next come the tonic Rasta Should be deeper on the Roots Tonic Riddim, and his hit Receive, which he completes with a tribute to Afghan women.
Junior Kelly goes down into the pit, as he often does, on Smile, before leaving the stage after an hour of a cleverly refreshed concert. As expected, Love so nice serves as the encore. Just enough time to launch into a new unreleased track (Jah will be there), very crossover, and the crowd is already being invited to head for the exit. At 1hr 20 of concert, Junior Kelly has almost broken his record for brevity. Hard to be disappointed, then. But frustrated, yes.
Report written by Sébastien Jobart
Tags : Junior Kelly (61)
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