With the recent success of bands like Fitz and the Tantrums, there is no reason not to pursue a dancing-large-ensemble idea, which really works live! Yellow Alex and the Feelings was the second band performing on Monday night at the Satellite, and they put the room on fire.
If Fitz put a spin on good old Rhythm & Blues, a Yellow Alex collective’s performance is a serious funk-soul revival with some super high-energy numbers, top-notch choreographed dance moves, and obvious visions of Prince himself.
Six on stage, David Goodwin, the tie-suit-guy, had some damn good bass lines and excellent R&B dancing moves, Kim Haden had put a Stevie Wonder into her synth, Brit Lauren and Brandon Scott added soulful back-up vocals – they even became frontboy/frontgirl on some songs – as well as exotic percussions, and Evan Greer was restless behind his drums. For me, frontman Yellow Alex was working as the Prince of this new revolution,… the attitude, the moves, the pop falsetto, the screams, it was difficult not to think about the purple one!
But don’t get me wrong, they were neither pastiche nor parody, and their take on funky dance-pop was real and totally contagious, watching the excited crowd around me. Faster than you can say purple rain, people had started moving and jumping on the band’s Motown-groovy numbers. In a few minutes, they had installed some heavy dance-floors as if it was 1980 again,… it was all about dancing – they even have a long disco song entitled ‘I just want to dance’ – and another glorious one called ‘Lisa, Lisa, Lisa’.
They were a joyous and unexpected ride, a playful dance party of pop rhythms infused with funk bass lines, and did I say how good they were at dancing themselves? Revival sound or not, they were some beasts on the dance floor, and the Satellite is still steaming.
