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MP3.com Live: John Legend, Mr. Sincerity
Silky-smooth singer wows a packed house at San Francisco's Independent with some anthemic, gospel-infused retro soul.
Making the ladies swoon is part of the job description of a soul singer.
John Legend
But only a select few go beyond that, taking the abs-induced swoon (see R. Kelly or Usher) to a level where both genders are pushed back on their heels.
In the case of John Legend, the Grammy-winning soul man who played a moving set at San Francisco's The Independent Saturday night, it came from a crafty, almost theatrical stage presence and a heap of gospel-infused retro soul. But most of all, and most distinctively, it came from sincerity, the ability to make each line seem like he's singing it for the first time.
It's a lost art, one made famous by soul legends like Donny Hathaway and Al Green, and Legend's got it. That authenticity easily made up for the fact that the new material Legend played Saturday night--his sophomore album Once Again hits stores October 24--failed to capture the swagger of some of the tracks off his 2004 debut, Get Lifted.
Looking like he just walked out of a Gap ad, Legend came on stage in a lavender dress shirt and khakis, backed by a quintet and three backup singers. He dove right into a new song, "Heaven Only Knows," a Kanye West-produced track that quickly instilled the set with a church vibe.
In another new track, "Stereo," Legend took on one of R&B's favorite subjects, the ménage a trois, wistfully describing a woman who "only loves in stereo." Finding the right mix of soul and cheese on this sort of track is tough, but Legend nailed it, as he did on "P.D.A.," an innuendo-laden new track about sex in public.
The 27-year-old Legend mixed in tracks from Get Lifted, which turned him into an overnight sensation and placed upon him the burden of being the future of soul music, a weight under which stars like D'Angelo have faltered.
But the bulk of the show focused on new songs, including "Save Room," the first single off Once Again. That track is indicative of most of the new material Legend played Saturday night: well-written, piano-driven, midtempo songs in the vein of his 2004 smash hit "Ordinary People." They were interesting numbers, catchy yet organic, but they lacked anything that knocked you off your feet like the strutting "I Used to Love U," the wry apology of "Number One," or the boastful flirting of "Alright."
But lucky for the packed house at the smallish venue Saturday night, Legend made up for the new wongs' lack of swagger with the real thing, bounding about the stage like a preacher delivering a sermon and belting out lyrics with genuine flair. Soul music is in good hands.
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