Words and Photos: Victoria Wai.
Excitement for the 30th Anniversary of Brand New Heavies ‘Brother Sister’ album ascended into Newcastles’ Boiler Shop with true weekend party vibes as the early excited revellers entered the venue they were met with a warm up DJ bringing the soulful club classics.
A SOLD-OUT audience were in place as the band took to the stage, with band founders Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy getting rapturous applause as the very aptly titled opening track on both this night and the album Have A Good Time laid the foundations of the night. Then, the arrival of lead vocalist Angela Ricci entered the stage, and the crowd really brought their moves to sing their hearts out to every single word. Yes, the FANS were in the house.
The night continued with this staple Acid Jazz Funk album of the 1990s being performed in album order and due to this the hits came early with Dream On Dreamer, Midnight At The Oasis and Back To Love. I’ve seen a few album celebrations played live but not many in album order so for Brand New Heavies to do this is a testament to what this album stood for and still does.
No stone was left unturned for this wholesome, nostalgic night. Everyone on stage got their moment to shine, and of course, we were given plentiful funktastic solos from Simon and Andrew, which really rallied the crowd on their dancing feet. And if they were not already getting their fill, there was a lot of crowd participation with sing backs most notably for Fake and World Keeps Spinning, and we even had some vocals from Simon that received close to the most rapturous applause of the night.
Then the encore came with a big confetti canon with the inclusion of two non big Brother Sister hits with Stay This Way from the debut self titled album to quite perfectly ending the night from the follow-up Shelter album with the anthem You Are The Universe taking us into the into the party mode midnight hour with our fellow Brothers and Sisters.
