Live at Nalen, Stockholm
October 15th 2013

It is a bit difficult to try to pinpoint exactly what makes Charles Bradley such a phenomenal performing artist. At Nalen, Bradley finds himself surrounded with a soul-loving crowd who are giving him all the love that he requires, but also deserves. The reception of Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires – who by the way make a great substitute for Bradley’s studio band The Menahan Street Band – is what makes this night so enjoyable. There is nothing more important than crowd reception when it comes to creating the perfect live atmosphere, and this is certainly achieved when Charles Bradley enters the stage at Nalen’s Stora Salen.

At the Apollo Theater in Harlem, a young Charles saw the booming James Brown perform in the early sixties, and ever since that day music has inevitably been a part of Bradley’s life. For over fifty years he traveled across America, working at different kitchens and restaurants as a cook, all the while playing music intensely until his band mates were drafted to Vietnam. As he moved back to Brooklyn, where Bradley was born, his brother was shot and killed.

Working as a James Brown imitator under the name ‘Black Velvet’ around the New York area, Bradley kept his interest in music alive. And we were lucky he did so, because one night there was a Gabriel Roth in the crowd; the same Gabriel Roth who co-founded Daptone Records. Roth knew immediately that this man needed to be put in a recording studio.

Daptone Records are famous for their revivalist approach to American soul, and have signed acts like Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, The Sugarman 3, and The Daktaris. The label’s agenda is straightforward: let’s keep it simple. With analog recording equipment and an ingenious use of echoes in the studio, the music coming out of Daptone Records could just as well have been made during the 1960s height of soul music.

Dressed like a soul king, Bradley immediately forces the Nalen crowd to become a part of the music together with his talented group of musicians. Nalen’s Stora Salen, with its high ceiling and great pillars, creates a throbbing atmosphere when Bradley’s tempered voice echoes around the beautiful room.

The pattern of songs for this night is classic: start off with a bang, and then slow everything down in the second song, only to return in an up-beat fashion for the third installment. The set list consists of a great mix of songs from Bradley’s debut The World Is Going Up In Flames (2011) and 2013s follow-up Victim of Love; both highly successful and critically acclaimed.

Even though Charles Bradley released his debut album in 2011, at the age of sixty-two, he performs like it’s all he’s been doing. Which is kind of true, but not as a professional musician. But it has made him into something that’s perfect when it comes to being the front man of a super aligned soul group. Something that is perhaps his most prominent feature as a performing artist: his commitment. Every note, every word and every scream is done with such commitment, such emotion and such pain. Charles Bradley is making the most of what he has been given; so late in life, and one cannot do anything but respect the man. And hope that he has many, many live performances and fantastic soul albums left in him.

Words by David Johansson
Photos by Medhane Asefaw