At
8:10pm, the band for NYC R&B vocalist Stephanie McKay began with a great
rendition of The Temptations's "Ball of Confusion"! When Stephanie
came out, the sound became more of a R&B groove. The best part of the show
was the funk jam where Stephanie loosened up and came off the stage to dance
with a few fans...the synthesizer sounded mighty good on the snippet of James
Brown's "Doin it to Death" and Brick's "Dazz"...Stephanie
took a moment to beat one of the drums, as the drummer was jammin'! The band
did a more reggae-style song followed by a slow R&B song. On the last song,
the delicious rhythm guitar of Mark and the deep funk bass romping was so good
that it sounded like some Meters stuff, along with the ecellent wah-wah funk
guitar riffs in the middle of the song. The Stephanie McKay set was over at
8:55pm.
Around
9:15pm, Candi Staton started her set with the country song "Cry to
Me" (from the new CD "His Hands"). "I'd Rather Be an Old
Man's Sweetheart Than a Young Man's Fool" was some funky soul music with
great scratch guitar riffing! "You Don't Have Far to Go" was good
because of great horn section. "Stand By Your Man" was a country song
with some acoustic guitaring, while "In the Ghetto" was a great
R&B track that preached about the downfalls of life in the ghetto.
"I'll Sing a Love Song to You" was good, but better was "How Do
I Get Over You", a gutbucket blues song that kicked into a jam session
with some great organ riffing & backing vocals!! "The Best Thing You
Ever Had" was the funkiest song thanks to some serious funk jamming,
including a powerful drum solo by Marcus Staton (Candi's son). "His
Hands" was a powerful slow song, especially with the serious emotion in
Candi's voice. "Young Hearts Run Free" and "Victim" were
disco songs that the band somehow spinned into some disco/funk stuff.
Interesting enough, the encore performance was "Victim" (again!)...wouldn't
it make more sense to perform a song that wasn't done yet...sheesh! The
Candi Staton was over around 10:40pm.
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