An Alice Smith show is always an event. I saw her three times in one week in April 2015. Each show is different even if they occur in the same week. That having been said, those three dates in April 2015 impressed me so much, that I declared Alice the greatest living entertainer! That's saying a lot because I am a regular concert attender. Practically every month you can find me at a show, and there are several recent shows I have been to of late, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, but none of them scorch like Alice Smith, who blows a ring of charismatic fire across the stage, from the second she graces the stage, until the last sliver of her dress disappears into the stage left exit. Even having seen her seven times in concert, she managed to thoroughly impress me and leave me stuttering with gaped mouthed awe after the show was through.
The crowd at the DC show was incredibly thick. They were here to show the hometown Goddess, who was born and raised in DC some incredible love. It's wonderful to see that the crowds get thicker and thicker, and she becomes more in demand with each passing engagement. As I mentioned in my last review, to witness her performance "feels like you have a front row seat to a dawn of something special." If you've ever seen her, you know what a special experience it is, and you cannot help but share it with others and rave about the performance, and so the crowd grows with each performance like a swarm of bees to the vocal honey that she is providing!
It was a smoldering afternoon, but little did I know how hot the heat would become when Alice took the stage!
I was wholly unprepared for her 9:30 club set. It seems at some point most entertainers reach a point of perfection, where they are not going to get any better. But with Alice, and this is the 7th time I have seen her, she just keeps getting better and better. Alice floated out to the stage, and as usual you heard her before you saw her. When she appeared, she looked cherubic in a flowing, silver, spangly halter dress, her hair in a long ponytail. If the performance were judged by just presentation alone, she would win the top prize.
But then, this Goddess went to open her mouth, and a hush ran over the crowd which had been previously cheering. It was time to listen to the eighth wonder of the universe.
She started off with a rousing rendition of Far Away. Thom Lubay and Frank Careeno accompanied Alice on guitar and Bass respectively, however, the drummer was a stand in, and it was his very first time playing with Alice. However, he did not miss a beat, giving Alice the punchy backbeat that she needs in order to do her trademark sensual, yet spastic movements on this track. Also, new for the past few dates are a pair of wonderful background singers, male and female. The gentleman has sang background during the last Alice Smith Tour, however the female was new. Their harmonies gave a push and pull to complement Alice's voice, which is always at its finest as it wavers between raw grittiness, and pure operate flourishes.
While this wall of sound was going on, she treated us to her unusual, and spirited rhythms which made her a force that you could not take your eyes off of, but when she opens her mouth, and that voice comes out full throttle, it is a wonder tantamount to first listening to Niagara Falls. You can try as you might to tell someone, or describe how impressive it is, but it leaves you with the ability only to sense, and take it all in aurally as it bathes your senses with sight, sound, color and feeling like you have need before experienced. Sidebar: if you've never heard of Alice and are reading this review, then go immediately to iTunes and download for Lover's and Dreamers and Me, then go to YouTube and watch the woman whose performances you have been listening to and prepare to be blown away. If you have listened to the records, but are on the fence about going to the actual concerts, drop what you are doing right now, and buy a ticket.
After far away was over, she jumped straight into Another Love, which was another great choice, and allowed for more of the perfect imperfections of the tribal like rhythms when Alice Dances. Heartfelt and sensual, the crowd was eating out of the palm of her hand. The background vocals gave a nice choral effect for anyone who is used to the background vocals on the album cut would have been very pleased. The operatic timber accompanies her nicely. However, if you are an Alice Smith fan, you've heard all these tracks before, and they are familiar, and tantalizing the way that warm apple pie, and cool ice-cream is, especially if you haven't had a piece for a while.
However, what was about to come next, Afrodite, was an amazing addition to the Alice Smith gumbo, a texture of soundscapes, gorgeous vocal warblings, and incredibly intricate rocked out instruments seeped in soul, glazed in jazz, drizzled with folk, and drenched with the blues. Aphrodite, means goddess of love, and Alice is the goddess of song, if there ever was one. The intro to the song was driving, propulsive and catchy, and after a false start, Alice let out a vocal "hey" that was as tacky as acrid lemonade and spicy as pepper. The chorus immediately turned cherubic, and you could hear the insistent urgency, for her lover to "keep it simple, right now to the end…then begin," Thom Lubay cuts a hypnotic groove into the song, reminiscent of another love, but it rocks out a little harder, while the track glides smoothly over Frank Careeno's vocals.
An Alice Smith show is an experience that will forever enrich your spirt!
An Alice Smith show is an experience of a lifetime, treat yourself to an experience that will forever change you, mind, body and soul, and be certain to pick up your tickets when she comes to your area!
