Did I mention that I don't like free summer shows? At least McCarren Park is close to me. No such luck with the Central Park Summer stage which is all the way in the upper east side. Also, McCarren Park has a nice feature where when the sun sets in the evening, shade slowly creeps from the back. There is no shade at the Central Park Summer Stage. At least there wasn't any this past Sunday when we went up there to see Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.
I deliberately arrived early because of a previous experience where I tried to see Amadou and Mariam and could not even get into the stage because the place was so crowded. Unfortunately, this meant we had to wait through the Menahan Street Band. In a nice air conditioned bar where my girlfriend and I could have shared a drink and sat down, they might not have been so bad. Unfortunately, we were in the overcrowded Summer Stage, trying to save ourselves a spot near the front in the hot sun and not in the mood for an instrumental smooth-jazz/funk group. Except for the Rocky theme (which was still kind of lame), nothing they played was memorable.
It seemed like a solid 70% of the members of the group were also in the Dap Kings. I guess these guys really need Sharon Jones and Bosco Bassman to light a fire under their asses. Because there was nothing boring about Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Well the warm up part of the show is kind of annoying and goes on about one song too long for me. It was still unquestionably better than the opening act.
And Sharon? She was great as usual. Even if she had been performing this music 40 years ago (and really --Janet Jackson cover aside, the Dap Kings sound like they stopped listening to music sometime shortly after 1970), she never would have been a diva. At 4' 11" with her looks, she just doesn't have the image. Which is a shame since she definitely knows how to use both her voice and her body to full effect. While the Dap Kings remain stationary for most of the show (the horn/woodwind section dances in sync in front of their microphones when they aren't playing), Sharon Jones runs back and forth across the entire stage. Sometimes she's "struts", others she dances like a crazy-woman.
I honestly don't know why this band hasn't recorded and released a live album yet. Given their love for James Brown (the set opened with "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" and "There Was a Time" was played near the end of the set), this seems like an obvious move. Their James Brown covers keep up with the originals. Even their original songs sound infinitely better live than on the album. The albums simply don't capture Sharon Jones' insane level of energy. They recently played a show at the Apollo. Maybe that will be turned into a live album. Or maybe they're worried that no one will buy any more studio albums if they get a live album. It's the only one I want to buy.
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