Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 25th November 2024
With a sold-out Brudenell Social Club providing an intimate setting for Michael Kiwanuka’s soulful music, the outcome of the evening was never in doubt. I was at the 9:30 gig: He said “I’ve played the Brudenell before… two hours ago!” The original album launch sold so quick that he’d added this late show, with a queue snaking outside in the cold.
What he’d started to say was that he’d played here twelve years ago, promoting his first album. It’s not been overnight success for this Mercury Music Prize winner but his star has risen fast over the last few years and he packed the 6,000 capacity Halifax Piece Hall this summer. Here though, tonight, all is small, focussed and gentle. The stage is packed with guitars, instruments, an old telly, some coffee tables, a few plants – a homely setting for a close-up gig. A small band kept things simple and the focus was on that remarkable voice, with the Brudenell’s legendary sound allowing all the lyrics their voice. Special songs, drawn partly from the new album but from the back catalogue too. Opening with the lovely ‘Lowdown’, the album’s Gilmour-esque guitar was absent but not missed and we moved through ‘Floating Parade’, ‘Rebel Soul’, ‘Tell Me A Tale’ and other favourites, closing on perennially popular ‘Cold Little Heart’.
Nothing was unexpectedly different from the recordings but the performances were golden and rich. Everything was underpinned with a deep and passionate bass guitar while the other player moved between gentle drums and illustrative keyboards. Up front were the two female backing singers, adding gorgeous layers of “ba ba ba ba, oooo, aaaa, oooooooo”. Behind Kiwanuka’s honey-soaked voice, this made for singer-songwriter soul perfection. It’s very early-Seventies but so perfectly shaped into Kiwanuka’s unique voice and persona; a warm and giving sound.
A special opportunity to get up close and personal with a singer fated to be shared with many more people next time he plays Leeds.