The B+B Festival– Part Three

There were some pleasant surprises of acts I was not very familiar with, like Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes—a really bluesy singer…

Or Aloe Blacc, who I really like as an R+B and soul singer…..

I also really liked Hozier, another Irish artist, who looked like Jesus and not accidentally, his bit hit is Take Me to Church….

Also excellent was Babyface, primarily known as a producer and songwriter for other artists like Boys to Men, but he was excellent with his band as well.

My sister like Michelle Branch, who I thought was just o.k. and sounded a bit like Rickie Lee Jones, but her songs were not all that striking on first listen.

Stange and completely out of place was Wayne Newton, but at least he brought his Vegas orchestra with him who were good.  He can’t really sing very well any more, but he can still play some instruments.  It was sad to see him in his tux after so many plastic surgeries at 81.

I was really looking forward to seeing Jon Batiste, but sadly he did not have a good sense of the occasion or the audience, many of whom did not know he was a Christian person on a mission, or in this case, saw his music as a spiritual exercise he tried to get the audience to play a part in.  He said from an outset, ‘this is not a concert, but rather a spiritual appointment’.  Obviously most of the crowd, while polite was bewildered. It fell flat, except when he sang his hits Freedom and Tell It like it Is……he ended up running around in the crowd telling everyone he loved them… but it didn’t really register much.

Obviously the final big headliner was Bruno Mars who brought his Vegas show with him, complete with his full band. Basically he did his own hits like 24 Carat,  and we got to see him play the guitar, which he is excellent at, and sing his heart out.  He did not do any of his Silk Sonic numbers as Anderson Paak was not there.  Too bad.  We could have used more Uptown Funk as well…..

A good time was had by all.