Ben L’Oncle Soul

Benjamin Duterde kicked off his sixties style soul revue with his reggae-flavoured cover of The White Stripes ‘Seven Nation Army’. The band successfully recreated the famous Muscle Shoals sound, with stabbing brass and electric piano but the show felt a little over-choreographed and slick, lacking the raw passion of the Stax stars Ben sought to emulate. That said, both singer and band worked really hard, with keyboard player Gabin Lesieur standing out but a few numbers were overlong with dull guitar solos. Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ was given the Otis Redding treatment but the overall feeling was of style over substance.

Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, 11 March 2012
Rating:
Steve Clements