Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul reached the final leg of the Soulfire Tour here in Australia in breath taking fashion in Perth on Saturday night with a vibrant and powerful show both musically & visually.
This is an arena sized production but all in the intimacy of a smaller venue and as the curtains opening we were greeted to ‘The Disciples’, a full fourteen piece band comprising of a five piece horn section, drummer, bass player, bongo & percussionist, two keyboard players, three backing singers and a guitarist – add to that the captivating Stevie Van Zandt and you had one pretty full stage. And with that many on musicians in one place, that could only mean one thing – big sound on so many levels.
The band kick off with Arthur Conley’s ‘Sweet Soul Music’ and immediately the crowd are movin’ & groovin’ before we are treated to a cover of The Breakers ‘Soulfire’ from his 2017 album of the same name. Van Zandt is a master of so many things that he has been involved in over the years, mainly as Bruce Springsteen’s right hand man for so long but also as the wonderful character ‘Silvio Dante’ on HBO’s The Sopranos and this is all so evident with his ability to tell his wonderful stories between songs throughout the evening.
The night continues with ‘Lying in a Bed of Fire’ & Etta James’ ‘The Blues is my Business’ and Van Zandt sounds strong vocally throughout the night as he continues to entertain with his music & stories. Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes ‘Love on the Wrong Side’, ‘Angel Eyes’ & ‘Until the Good is Gone’ follow on with slick precision as Van Zandt, draped in trademark bandana and scarf, peels off his heavy overcoat between guitar change overs.
With a new album of original material ‘Summer of Sorcery’ set for release on 3 May we were able to hear a few of the tracks in the latter half or the set in the form of ‘Love Again’ & ‘Superfly Terraplane’ and I for one will be looking forward to what the rest of this album holds. ‘Ride the Night Away’ made famous here by the one and only Jimmy Barnes, which I learn for the first time was written by Van Zandt and ‘Sun City’ take us to the final number of the night ‘Out of the Darkness’.
All in all a wonderful night of Little Steven’s originals with a good dusting of covers with some great stories mixed in made this a fantastic night of all round entertainment. If you haven’t got tickets for the rest of the Australian tour I suggest doing so now to avoid disappointment.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by The Buffman
LITTLE STEVEN AND THE DISCIPLES OF SOUL
Tuesday 16th April 2019 – TheBarton Theatre, Adelaide | MegaTix.com.au
Saturday 22nd April 2019 – Auckland Town Hall, Auckland NZ
Tuesday 23 April – Forum Melbourne | Melbourne, VIC [18+] ticketmaster.com.au | Ph: 136 100
Thursday 25 April – Enmore Theatre | Sydney, NSW [Licensed All Ages] ticketek.com.au | Ph: 132 849
Presented by Frontier Touring
