Al Green and The Black Arm Band

I went and saw the Black Arm Band, followed by the Reverend Al Green for the first time on Australian soil, in the Domain on Saturday night. I had no expectations for the evening, essentially going because the lovely Sophie let me know she was going along and I thought 'why not?', but I really enjoyed it. The Black Arm Band, something of a conglomerate of Indigenous artists, were very entertaining (though I confess I didn't catch too many lyrics). Dan Sultan in particular seems to have quite a following, though I wasn’t familiar with him, and he certainly has stage charisma and enthusiastic double-time moves. Then Al Green was just so good. He came with a thirteen piece band and his daughters for back-up singers (read more here). One of the first songs he sang was “Let’s Stay Together”, and this youtube gives you some idea of his own stage presence, which is in no way diminished with his ageing. He threw roses to the crowd, did some hilarious moves and sang with passion and frequent flashes of that smile. It was just a whole lot of fun. I didn’t think I knew a whole lot of Al Green, but then discovered that I knew almost every song he sang, because they have featured on so many soundtracks and been covered so often. 100,000 people got to their feet to groove in their way because the music was so infectious. ‘Twas a jolly good time.