Soul and funk tunes filled the Royale Sunday night while the boisterous crowd anxiously awaited the arrival of sold-out headliner Allen Stone. With soul on the mind, stomach for sale the genre conjures up the classic images of James Brown’s effervescent moves, hospital chills from Aretha Franklin earth-shattering belts. The impassioned music of these Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has remained powerful and influential through the generations. This could explain such a dynamic crowd of all ages coming together ready to dance as a funky bassline ushered in members of the band one by one. A vivacious Stone skipped out on to the stage to James Brown’s “Sex Machine.” With long, store blonde, curly locks and goofy glasses, Stone is not your average soul singer. But he’s just as electric. The incredible talent of this 25-year-old from Seattle is undeniable. Stone immediately took command of the room, making it clear he was here to party and “have the best damn time we possibly can.” Like the soul singers that came before him, Stone’s emphasis on human-to-human interaction and passion permeate his songs and set the lusty mood of his shows.
In “Contact High,” he encourages us to get off our Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, put down our cell phones and enjoy and indulge in the company of the people around us. And that’s just what dozens of couples around did, if you know what I mean. Stone’s infectious enthusiasm and baby-makin’ music lit up the room as everyone danced and sung along to every track on his debut self-titled album, a cover of Bob Marley’s “Is this Love,” and Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good” in the encore. At times his energy and tendency to stop the music to interact with the crowd borderlines on too much, such as him dividing up the room for a dance off, but the fact that he was able to make it happen is impressive. An Allen Stone show is one where you don’t need to have heard a single song beforehand to still have a blast.
“If you could take anything away from tonight, it’s that we can look each other in the eyes and out of pure air we can create wonderful energy called love.” –Allen Stone.