Photos by Nocturnal Charm
You, yes you, will hate yourself next year when Allen Stone "blows up" and you missed one of the single most brilliant shows of your life that was ONLY $15! ...but I digress.
After a very long day, I debated about going to the show and then I mentally smacked myself because I had been waiting for this moment to see him live since late spring and this was finally my chance. No amount of fatigue was going to stop me.
I arrived at Baltimore Sound Stage at the end of the second opener, happily surprised at the amount of people that occupied the floor and the perimeter. The crowd was extremely diverse: black and white, young and young at heart...a great mix of music lovers.
Finally the moment arrived when the band started up with a little bit of James Brown, from which they introduced the man of the hour- ALLEN STONE.
His set was a perfect whirlwind of sound. He performed album staples like "Sleep" and "Celebrate Tonight" that got the crowd rocking. With a dance-off he took the crowd to another level of movement as the audience competed to shake their money makers more intensely than the other.
Amped with adrenaline he decided to slow the mood down by serenading us all with "Killing Time". Stripped of every instrument accept the guitar, "Killing Time" allowed us to appreciate the background vocals of his band as their voices blended effortlessly.
Allen went on to perform favorites "Satisfaction", "Say So" and "Another Break Up Song", but the jewel of the night for me was his heart wrenching rendition of Bob Marley's "Is This Love". No one will ever be able to accuse Allen Stone of not having soul. Each ounce of his being went into performing that piece and the harmony that was constructed from all members of the band to create such a stirring performance. Spontaneously my soul would be gripped and I would shout out "you better sang boy!" or "YES!!!!!" I call it Lounge Congregational Language as opposed to the "Hallelujahs" and "Amens" of the Lords Congregational Language lol. It was a religious experience and at one point I almost went prostrate as a penitence to Allen for all the silly people who had no idea of the musical revival that was taking place in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Absolutely Incredible!
If you are not familiar with Allen Stone...GET FAMILIAR and get his music from itunes, follow him on twitter @allen_stone and support great music and those who make it!
For more pictures from the Allen Stone show at The Baltimore Sound Stage by Nocturnal Charm click HERE.
Special shout out to Sam, Lauren, Laura, and BJ!
1 comments:
Sounds like the show was awesome. I'm seeing him in LA in a couple weeks...very excited. What time did he come on stage? How long did he play for?
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