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Goapele last year. She's now shed her dreads, and she sang about change in her 9:30 club concert, but pretty much stuck to the old stuff. Which was fine.
(By M.j. Kim -- Getty Images)
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'A Song for Their Service'
Perhaps the Lincoln Theatre wasn't the ideal venue for "A Song for Their Service," a concert to "honor America's military men and women." Or maybe the Friday night event, headlined by country star Mark Wills, was poorly publicized. Whatever the explanation, only about 60 people attended the lackluster show at the 1,250-seat hall. A larger crowd might have amplified the energy level, but it couldn't have boosted the spontaneity of music, which was largely prerecorded.
Eight performers appeared, each delivering but two or three songs. Most them used backing tracks, and the only instruments played live were guitars. The liveliest moments belonged to those musicians who entirely rejected canned music, Wills and Canadian singer-songwriter Melanie Dekker. The former sang one of his two country-chart toppers, the briskly nostalgic "19 Somethin'," but also a tune offered in protest of the "politically correct world" for diluting the religiosity of Christmas.
That sentiment was typical of the evening, which was as strong on evangelical Christianity as patriotic zeal. The repertoire ranged from "America the Beautiful" to "Go Tell It on the Mountain," and Christian-music performer Russ Lee expressed his hope that audience members would never again use the phrase "Happy Holidays."
One of the night's loudest ovations was for Dekker, whose most pertinent number was "Fall In (Wounded Soldier)." She earned her biggest response, however, for the flirtatious "Haven't Even Kissed U Yet," a song that proved life can offer other inspirations besides God and country.
-- Mark Jenkins
Goapele
San Francisco Bay area soul singer Goapele obsessed over the concept of change during her Friday night show at the 9:30 club.
She talked about the impending New Year as being a great time for change and explained that she had cut off her trademark dreadlocks in order to release old energy and help facilitate change. And when she couldn't talk about change anymore, she sang about it.
"Change is relevant!" Goapele told the crowd before launching into "A Change Is Gonna Come," the Sam Cooke song.
Goapele may be embracing transformation in her personal life, but musically she hasn't exactly been metamorphic lately. Goapele hasn't produced a CD since 2005's "Change It All," and, unlike most artists two years beyond their last projects, she didn't make any announcements about upcoming works during her show.
Still, even though the bohemian soul songs were the same, Goapele's voice was at its sweet, airy best. The singer (who appeared with Franklin Bridge, former contenders on "The Next Great American Band") gave just a wisp of a show -- performing only 11 songs -- but sounded crisp throughout. Her singing on "First Love," "4 am" and "Crushed Out" was studio-clear, and she gave an unexpected and incredibly sharp rendition of Blondie's "Heart of Glass."
