“D’angelo!” a member
of the audience murmured loudly between songs at James Blake’s April 18th,
Thursday night concert at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, California. Who knows exactly what the person meant but a
few moments later as Blake fiddled with his keyboard and microphone they said
it again, shouting this time, “D’Angelo!”
At the second and louder mention of the late 90’s R&B impresario, James
Blake took notice and calmly and wittingly retorted in his endearing British
accent, “What, is he here?...I hope he’s here that’d be great?” Though he was joking there was a
purposefully detectable amount of sincerity in Blake’s voice, and the audience
responded with both cheers and laughter. No, D’angelo
wasn’t there, nor did James Blake suddenly break into a set from the D’angelo
songbook, but the brief exchange was indicative of Blake’s performance before the
intimate crowd in the seaside college town and surfing haven an hour south of
San Francisco. Blake and many of his fans
know and appreciate very well the lineage that he and his music fall into (yell
D’angelo at an Aerosmith concert and see if you get a reply), which only
increased the connection between the sentiment and sound of his songs and the
audience that night. Furthermore, anyone
who’s spent some Sundays in a Black church knows where Blake takes some of his
musical cues and that the roots of his sounds can be heard from a pew any
Sunday morning in Black America.
But Blake’s concert wasn’t a holy event, it was a secular celebration of audible art—in a hallowed way. At
approximately 9pm Blake had kicked off the evening with the mellow intro
to his single “I never Learnt to Share”; service at the church of James Blake had
begun. An hour and a half later when the
doors of the church were opened and the mostly young crowed filed back onto
Soquel Ave., Blake had assured his fans that his is a career worth
following. 
As mentioned, Blake started the night with an homage to his
dub-step and dance club roots but before long he was playing the title song
from Overgrown. It’s solid on the album. It’s solid live. Enough said. By the time he moved into his
performance of "Lindesfarne I" and "Lindesfarne II" it was clear though that this performance
at the Rio would not be an overproduced wall of sound, as some concerts are
wont to be, it was to be a humble and confident presentation of music by a guy
that’s building a repertoire that proves he knows what he’s doing. The mostly young crowd of college students
(from the adjacent UCSC) coupled with the simplicity of lights and a
continually produced light layer of fog made for a concert that was peaceful
and at times stirring, yet powerful when Blake wanted it to be. James Blake was the preacher and we were the
choir. Add this to the fact that Blake
plays his songs live almost flawlessly, and I could be considered very
impressed.
But the highlight of the evening and clear crescendo of
Blake’s perfectly structured set list was his performance of the single “Retrograde.” Little did anyone know when Blake said he and
his two band mates would play a new song next that Blake was entering the
pulpit to deliver his sermon. The song
started with simple piano chords, a basic metronomic clicking of the hi-hat,
and Blake looping his voice into a soulful and hypnotizing melodic hum. The song then slowly exploded into a sonic universe
of resonating synthesizers, deep bass, and soulful vocals, all backed by a
steady drum beat. It was apparent to all watching that James Blake had
elevated the room. As the song ended everything
suddenly dropped into an eerie quietness of gospel inspired piano chords and Blake humming while the
lights in the room dimmed to blackness, save a silhouette of the artist
himself. It was moving and it was
powerful and it felt like it occupied some nexus between the sacred and the secular. So much so that in the brief silence between
the end of the song and the rapturous cheers and applause from the audience that followed it,
a girl loudly proclaimed, “Holy Shit!!”
 |
| ( Outside the Rio Theatre following the concert) |
As Blake closed the evening playing his tranquil cover of
Joni’s Mitchell’s “A Case of You” it felt like he had telepathically gotten me
to understand the entire Overgrown album. I probably would have felt guilty for the sin
of ever questioning its quality had the entire concert not left a warm feeling
of contentment that remained unshakeable for the remainder of the night. However, it wasn’t the greatest concert I’ve
ever been too mostly because it didn’t feel like I’d gone to see a good band, or
my favorite act play live..it felt like a musical performance that was unique
unto itself—like James Blake’s music. In
that sense it certainly ranks among the top live performances I ever seen. Simply put, it was VERY good. James Blake isn’t perfect though, and the Overgrown album isn’t perfect (at this exact
moment I still prefer his first album), and I won’t be placing him or his
likeness on any altars anytime soon. All
the same, James Blake is doing way more than enough right that seeing him live is
worth much more than the $25 his Santa Cruz performance cost. And as everyone stood under the neon sign of
the Rio Theater amid the night air discussing what they’d just experienced it was
clear how much James Blake is doing something right. The best way to sum up the general sentiment of
the crowd to what they'd just witnessed? Amen.
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