Charles Bradley - The Screaming Eagle of Soul

My ticket stub from the August 22 Charles Bradley show at The Rialto is now thumb-tacked to my kitchen wall.  It still makes me smile to walk by and be reminded of the amazing performance he and his band put on last month.  On especially good days, seeing the ticket stub and thinking of the show even makes me attempt a Charles Bradley-like dance move.  I do not, however, possess the incredible dance skills as the 65 year old showman.  This man can sing, dance, and preach the good word, often all at the same time.  He is a prophet, he is a boddhisattva, he is a prophetsattva.  Please read on to hear more about this (already legendary) performance and for a freegal link to his new album.

Even before Charles Bradley came on stage, the band was already sounding great.  In an old-school style of performance which I appreciate, the backing band took the stage to play some instrumentals and warm up the audience before the main performer took the stage.  I had meant to take notes, but the show was so riveting right from the get-go, that I was totally absorbed and completely forgot about my notepad.  So, I think there were about 8 people in the band, which included a couple of horns.  The bandmembers are part of the Daptone Family, the same studio behind Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Budos Band, Antibalas, and the Fela! musical.  They laid down a wonderful groove for Charles Bradley to jump into.  He came onstage, and commanded every moment of the rest of the show.

I will not go into Charles Bradley's history, except to say that he has been in the soul music scene for quite sometime and has gone largely unnoticed until now.  From the moment he he came on stage, his presence, his vocals, his moves, and his spirit were all larger than life.  Joshua Levine of the Tucson Weekly wrote a wonderful review of this show, giving the reader a real sense of the magnetism of Charles Bradley.  To add to that, I cannot recall the last time I was so moved, both physically and spiritually, by a concert.  In fact, and while it seems hard to believe, my recollection of the show is that shortly after dancing his way onstage and launching into his extremely powerful vocal performance, Charles Bradley stuck two glowing fingers into the air, and drew his hand down, ripping a seam in the very fabric of the universe, through which funky love continued to pour out for the duration of the show.  He sang and preached of love, not just sensual love, but love for all our sisters and brothers, love for everyone, love for ourselves.  Everyone was feeling the love, strangers hugging strangers in the crowd, dancing feet and glowing faces were full of love and happiness.

At the end of the performance, he came into the audience to be with his people.  Normally, I am not the guy to rush up to the performer for pretty much any reason, but on this night, I wanted to give a little of that love back to Mr. Bradley, and, as so many others did, I made my way up to him to express my gratitude.

If you missed the show, you can at least download his latest album "Victim of Love" here from the hugely expanded freegal collection.  Following my non-stop praise of his performance, my buddy took a 4 hour drive to Burlington, Vermont to see him tonight.  I am curious if Charles Bradley can produce this same magic every night, or if we were especially blessed here in Tucson.  Either way, I think seeing the ticket stub on my kitchen wall as I walk by will continue to bring me warm feelings of funky love for some time.

Cheers, Brian