The Story of Soul at Lighthouse Poole Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Dottie Rood
The Story of Soul, A Journey Through the History of Soul, was performed at the Lighthouse Arts Centre in Poole in the concert hall. This holds approximately 1,000.00 people and although it wasn’t full it did have a really good atmosphere as everyone waited with anticipation and excitement for the show to begin.
The Lighthouse Arts Centre is a lovely modern building just on the edge of Poole town, it offers a good selection of food and drink which was reasonably priced. The seats were comfortable and the view was really good from all of them as far as I could tell. Mine was really good as the seats in front and behind were staggered offering a brilliant view through the whole show.
This is a tribute show and is no way affiliated with any original artists/estates/management companies or similar shows. I was unsure what to expect from this performance as I thought it would be a show depicting, ‘The story of Soul’ using narrative and music, but when I realised it was in the concert room, I thought perhaps it was going to be a ‘concert’? Having seen it I think I would describe it as a mixture of both (perhaps more concert than show) although not like the concerts I have been to in the past as you know exactly who you’re going to see! So, who did we see? Well we started in 1959 with Tamla and Stax into chart-topping 70s, the electric 80s and onto RnB-fuelled noughties and way beyond. We had Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Earth Wind and Fire, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, The Pointer Sisters, Whitney Houston, Ben E King and Barry White plus many, many more.
The songs started with, ‘Do you like good music?’ (Sam Cooke), ‘A night to remember’ (Cindy Lauper) and ‘I feel for you’ (Chaka Khan), which set the tone of the evening, (lively, fun, sparkling and entertaining). We were then treated to sixteen more songs! and a brilliant finale that had three of the liveliest songs of the evening, ‘Remember’ (Becky Hill), ‘Boogie Nights’ (Johny Wilder Jnr) and ‘Boogie Wonderland’ (Earth Wind and Fire) which had the whole audience on their feet. All these songs are performed by just six singers, three ladies, Shema, Reneese and Rachel Francis, and three men, Phillip, Jatony and Christian Jules (apologies for any spelling mistakes!) and a four piece, ‘groove’ band, it made for very impressive listening with most of the songs sounding just like the originals so well done to them.
My standout favourite has to be ‘Nutbush City Limits’ and ‘Proud Mary’ (Tina Turner), all three women took part in this and were really good. All in all this was a fun, energetic, joyous and glittering evening especially if you are a lover of Soul.
The Story of Soul was only on for one evening at Poole Arts Centre but there are 16 more dates all around the country right up to May 17th, 2024. All future dates and venues can be found at www.entertainers.co.uk who produce this show.
Rating: 4/5
Tickets cost from £22.50
The Story of Soul was at Poole Lighthouse Arts and Entertainment Centre for one night only.
Box office: 01202280000 info@lighthousepoole.co.uk
Poole Lighthouse Arts and Entertainment Centre 21,Kingland Road Poole Dorset BH151UG
Photograph was courtesy of www.entertainers.co.uk