It is rare to have two legends of modern soul on the same stage, but The Roof Gardens was the right sort of stage for such a special night.
Terri Walker’s set was full of fun and cheekiness – you wouldn’t expect anything less from such a great performer. A standout performance was the rendition of her single ‘Guess You Didn’t Love Me’, in which she rapped Mos Def’s part on top of her own vocals. Another highlight was the debut single off her new album, Entitled, ‘Bad Boy’, definitely a track to check out. After a difficult period in her life, Walker has shown genuine commitment to her music, as well as the strength to keep going in a tough industry, and the quality of her performance underlined this.
Omar made us wait before coming on stage, but he definitely made an impression. He performed a solo set, using a keyboard, and he got the crowd moving with his high energy tracks. Nevertheless, his voice didn’t make a great impact, and his effort to make his music ‘young’ with a keyboard fell on deaf ears. In a sense, The Roof Gardens wasn’t the right venue for the energy that he wanted to bring, and Terri Walker was more suitable. Nevertheless, the crowd was satisfied by the end of the concert, and there was the sense that all they wanted was the comforting nostalgia of two stalwarts of the UK R&B scene, which is definitely what they got.
Eleanor Robinson