For one night only The Sydney Opera House was transformed into a temple of soul. While most Australians are only now being introduced to soul music by The Voice, those who have been familiar with the genre a bit longer gathered together in the Concert Hall to witness, as ads dubbed him , “the last true legend of soul” Bobby Womack.
It is often said that if someone wants to sound credible singing soul, they have had to experience hardship in their lives – and few artists have experienced it quite like Bobby Womack; he battled cocaine addiction from the late seventies until the early nineties, his first son committed suicide in the mid-eighties, his third child died as an infant, just last year he survived colon cancer and recently doctors diagnosed him with early signs of Alzheimer. When Bobby Womack sings about pain and heartbreak, he knows what he’s talking about.
Originally scheduled for two nights, Womack’s Sydney performance at the Vivid Festival became a one-off after his Friday night show was cancelled last minute due to health reasons.
With that in mind the audience didn’t really know what to expect when the soul legend appeared from the side of the stage at 8:15 pm in a red leather suit that made him look like Flavor Flav’s granddad (minus the clock).
Womack’s entrance did not forebode well when he fell over straight away before even reaching the microphone. The singer and his tight 13-piece band all pretended that didn’t just happen and they kicked off with his best known song “Across 110th Street”, the 1972 classic that was used in Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 flick Jackie Brown through which a whole new generation of music fans was introduced to Womack’s soulful voice. That famous voice still had to be warmed up since the singer failed to pull off the subtleties and high notes in the song. During the first songs Womack at times sounded like Tom Waits gone soul.
An early highlight was a rendition of “Harry Hippie” which offered a chance for back-up singer Altrinna Grayson to show off her hurricane of a voice, and during the following songs such as “Daylight”, “I wish he didn’t trust me so much” and “That’s the way I feel about cha ” Womack clearly started to feel and sound more comfortable on stage. His microphone stand functioned as a walking stick throughout the gig, since the singer was too frail to walk or stand up straight without it for longer than a few seconds, although this didn’t keep him from trying.
When it came to the title track of last year’s remarkable Damon Albarn-produced comeback album The Bravest Man In The Universe, the 69-year old sat down to fully focus on his voice. Womack seemed destined to prove his new work can easily live up to any comparisons with his older hits, and made sure he’d deliver a flawless rendition.
More well-known hits like “Please Forgive My Heart” and “Woman’s Gotta Have It” followed, and a powerful performance of Sam Cooke’s classic “A Change Is Gonna Come” became another highlight, especially since Womack performed it as a duet with his daughter GinaRe, who sounds set for stardom herself.
Hearing the elder Womack perform this song live was somewhat eerie, since it’s long considered a “cursed” song: Cooke died shortly after he wrote it and Otis Redding didn’t last for much longer either after he covered it.
Seeing Bobby Womack live was a bittersweet experience: on the one hand it is sad to see a legendary performer so frail that it doesn’t seem like he’ll be around for much longer. On the other hand this vulnerability adds an extra layer to his soul – and it is deeply impressive to hear how he can still pull it off live. This is obviously an artist who will persist in performing until he can’t go on anymore. And for that Bobby Womack deserves the deepest respect.
