After years of silently freeing the music worthy of the center of the center of the stage, but avoiding the center of attention, the British singer and composer Cleo Sol made his long -awaited debut on Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl. The concert took place only a few days after she acted in the United States for the first time during a three -shows race on the City Music Hall radio in New York City.
The energy within the amphitheater with inputs of 17,000 with exhausted capacity was tasty as assistants, both new and old, understood two things: this was a rare opportunity to witness the prolific R&B singer, and that their deeply healing music would move them emotionally and spiritually. (Before the program began, several people in the crowd near me said they were ready to cry, and me too.)
Backed by a band of 11 members that includes five background singers, all of whom had distinguishable tones and felt that they had been selected by Cleo Sol herself, opened the show at 9 pm with the introspective “Rewind” of “Rose in the Dark” of 2020, before flowing effortlessly in the next song of the project, “Rose in the Dark”.
Dressed in a silk dress with golden tones, Cleo Sol smiled intensively and playfully through the stage while crossing other favorites from “Rose in the Dark” fans, including the seducer and jazz “when I am in your arms”, romantic “lateral”, the desire “I love you” and encouraged “young love”. Without the help of a rear track, his moving and silky voice took in the great place as he ripped and showed his impressive vocal range. Among the songs, he drank a drink full of electrolytes, which joked helped her overcome the night.
Cleo Sol, who is also the main vocalist of the equally elusive Sault collective based in the United Kingdom, could have easily immersed in his robust catalog, which covers 11 studio albums and two EPS, during the set on Friday night. Instead, he chose to keep his offerings alone, withdrawing from the “mother” of 2021 and his liberations of 2023 “sky” and “gold”, which arrived two weeks apart. (He shouted to her husband, info, her producer and the intellectual author behind Sault, who attended).
During his song “Heart Full of Love”, which he dedicated to his son, Cleo Sol joined his background vocalists and sat in a stool. While they sang the lyrics, “thank you for sending me an angel directly from the sky / when my hope was gone, you made me strong,” the crowd illuminated the place holding their cell phones in the air and swinging from side to side. “This is making me excite, I'm going to cry,” he told the audience. “It looks beautiful from here.”
More than half of the almost two -hour show, Cleo Sol briefly left the altar and resurfaced in the stands, towards the middle of the place to sing “know that you are loved.” He made the deeply affirmative track that he feels like a mantra and a cradle song in the same way he did during it. Viral Royal Albert Hall Show in 2023 – Approaching their fans, touching their hands and singing them directly. His tender vocal performance felt like a gigantic hug of a loved one.
Then he returned to the stage to perform the powerful “Life Will Be”, which was felt as a perfect ending, before running once again to sing an electrifying bis “Why Don't You” of his project “Rose in the Dark”.
“Ok, one more!” He said, laughing.
Like his predecessors of R&B, Sade and D'Angelo, who are also known for being lonely and drawing their own territory, Cleo Sol's performance on Friday showed that when you really love what you do and music is first, you don't have to play in the industry's endless rats race. Cleo Sol follows the divine moment of her life and does what she feels good for her, which has been worth it in the long run. She is a testimony of the fact that, although fans may not want to wait for new music or see her act live, they will be enthusiastically when she is ready.
