St Lucia and his crew make for a colourful bunch. Jean-Philip Grobler (AKA St Lucia), along with Nick Brown, Ross Clark, Nicky Paula and Patricia Beranek have been tearing up the airwaves with various songs from their indie-pop album When The Night.
Naturally they arrived on stage to an excited room ready to dance to the highly moveable South African flavours. And taste them we did.
Apart from sore feet, here's what I took from the concert:
1. Choir classes pay off
Starting off the night off with radio-favourite The Night Comes Again, Jean-Philip's choir-boy background really shined through; his vocal capabilities exuded a quality only years of dedicated practice could do.
2. St Lucia can smash a cover
Jean-Philip and his backing band surprised everyone by performing a boppy rendition of Chaka Khan's '83 hit 'Ain't Nobody'. It's hard to believe that this '80s hit could become any more balmy but St Lucia and his band worked the crowd into a hot sweat.
3. There is such a thing as too much wind machine.
Lucky his bouffant 'do could handle the gale force.
4. He likes it loud (his clothing, that is).
Keep updated on his appealing apparel that would make even Solange Forest Green with envy on his Twitter account.
Debuting this @Soullandcph shirt in Australia in a few days! Can't wait to be back, it's been WAY too long. pic.twitter.com/Ek9s5Hv8kq
— St. Lucia (@stlucia) March 30, 2014
When is someone at @mastbrothers going wake up and start making shirts with the same prints as their wrappers? pic.twitter.com/S1r4jgspYd
— St. Lucia (@stlucia) March 26, 2014
The new @Fluevog ' so debuted in Vancouver pic.twitter.com/Ahqbp9EMgk
— St. Lucia (@stlucia) February 4, 2014
5. The energy translated from album to dancefloor
Despite the set occasionally lulling into a few too many la-la-las, by and large it was an energetic, sunshine-driven affair. Towards the end of the night, effortless transitions between songs ensured the dancing pit never quit. Elevate was as euphoric as you'd expect and the glistening island-inspired percussion transformed the room into a Caribbean getaway. The more dance-centric September delivered perfectly constructed climaxes, driving the evening home before we were willing to call it a night. That enthusiasm was (unfortunately?) noticed by a fellow punter who complimented my friend and me on our 'enthusiasm' which 'made her night.' I, myself, would pass the compliment onto St Lucia but, hey, my pleasure.
St Lucia wrapped up his National tour in Melbourne on Tuesday before making his way back to the US.
