Mr Smooooooooooth visits The Wild Man and what a cracking night.
Singer MJ Soul has a smooth silky voice and I could listen to him all day and night.
Opening with ‘Easy Like a Sunday Morning’, not the usual opening number for a pub gig on a Friday night, you’d think, however it perfectly introduced any new fans: great track, sung perfectly and everyone was singing from the off.
The first handful of songs were romantic love songs from the likes of Ed Sheeran, Billy Paul, Ben E King. It was a small crowd but that’s what made it special – all the ladies were serenaded and we all loved it!
The tempo of the songs increased as the set continued, to be fair the set list was totally spot on. Too spot on actually as I question myself whether he had a pre-arranged set list and got lucky or was adapting as he went. I spoke to him during the break and he adapted the set to suit the evening. He’s that experienced and professional he knew exactly what songs to play to the crowd. You know there is nothing worse than watching a band and their songs seem too random as they are not understanding the flow of the music or the audience. But not MJ Soul and not this night. It flowed like a magical waterfall.
The songs made us get up and dance, it was a hot night (which might be why the small crowd) but we just had to dance. Due to the small number MJ was able to join us on the dance floor singing and dancing with his audience – it was as though we were all his mates. Superbly enjoyable.
You can tell he loves what he does and he’s so natural at it. A natural singer, performer, entertainer and a really nice guy.
His repertoire is humungous. From Barry White, Lionel Ritchie, The Real Thing, Sister Sledge, Candi Stanton, Jimmy Cliff, McFadden & Whitehead, The Drifters, Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind and Fire …..just too many but don’t think it’s too limited as MJ tried some Reggae and Ska on us ‘Let me tell you about Sally Brown’….and we kept singing and dancing. MJ also sang a sala track for Marta, and everyone was swaying their hips (even Bob….who never, ever dances!).
He adapted to entertain his audience and the environment. We loved it. It was unique as it was just for us. MJ carried on longer than he was supposed to as we were all having such a good time!
A cracking night and MJ Soul is not one to be missed.
This review first appeared on GrapevineLIVE.
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MJ Soul