That warm feeling when you go down a hill, and as you gain speed, and race toward the bottom, it hits your stomach, fires off your pleasure receptors, and sends you into a state of euphoria. Leon Bridges gives you that same feeling when he comes out on stage and begins to work the crowd, and did so at The National in Richmond, VA when he performed last night.
Passing through security, ticket in hand, fans shuffled inside, eager to hear a new take on the soulful sound of the singers past. Bridges takes you for a ride back to when men wouldn’t walk outside to the mailbox without being outfitted in a sharp suit and hat. Right from the start, everything was “Smooth Sailin” before getting a little “Out Of Line” with a “Whole Lotta Woman” and a “Pull Away” into a short musical break. Then came “The Juice,” which squeezed into “Better Man,” before he found his way into the hit song, “Brown Skin Girl.”
Bridges, 27 years old, sings soulful songs similar in style to Sam Cooke and the R&B sound of the 50’s and 60’s. Hailing from Fort Worth, Texas, Bridges carries himself with the style and pose of a true Southern gentlemen. He doesn’t just dress the part. Bridges made sure to take time during the show to give a shout out to his Mother (like a true good mannered southern gentlemen), as the next song in the set bore her name, “Lisa Sawyer.”
With a shout out to the band’s home state of Texas, Leon and his band fired things up with a twangy Texas slide guitar heavy tribute to the Lone Star State, “Texas Sun.” “Hold On” and “Flowers” came next, as Bridges and his six-piece backing band got the entire audience “Twisting and Groovin.” Bridges announced to the audience that the next song was written in 2012 at his mother’s house, as “Coming Home” starts off with Brittani Jessie laying out some beautiful vocals before Leon came in and delivered the sweet soulful sounds of the title track to his Grammy nominated debut album. The audience even got into it and began singing along, as he turned the mic on the audience for some fun call and response type vocals. Bridges was clearly loving it, mentioning to the crowd that he’s never had audience participation like that of the crowd at the sold out historic Richmond venue that night.
Afterwards, the lights dimmed down low, with only a silhouette of Bridges seen on stage. Bridges picked up his semi-hollow body sunburst guitar and took the audience down to the soothing sound of the “River.”
Bridges then exited the stage, and the crew began to break down the microphone stands. ‘What!?, No encore??’ one fan snarked. As some left the venues, thoise who remained only got louder and louder, refusing to leave without an encore. Stage hands returned microphones to their places, and with a roar of the crowd, Leon and his soulful sextet returned to the stage.
Leon took the mic and told the audience, with a reminiscent tone, about growing up watching the performer of the next song sing and dance on TV during his youth. A large group of girls began to scream, as Bridges began his slow sexy soulful R&B rendition of Ginuwine’s popular hit, “Pony.” Feeling off the audience’s energy, Bridges and company kept things going with a hot version of “Pussyfooting” that went into a jam, with Leon improvising lyrics that reflected on his trip to Virginia and some of the audience members lucky enough to be in the first few rows.
To wrap up the night, Bridges and his band busted out their hardest rocking song of the night, “Mississippi Kisses.” This wasn’t just smooth soul, this was full on rock n’ roll! Heavy guitar riffs with an explosive sax brought that ‘down in New Orleans’ sound to the stage, concluding the show with all out barn burner to bring the ride to an end for the Richmond crowd.
Check out a full gallery and the setlist, below.
Setlist: Leon Bridges at The National, Richmond, VA – 10/2/16
Set: Smooth Sailin’, Out Of Line, Whole Lotta Woman, Pull Away, The Juice, Better Man, Brown Skin Girl, Golden Room, Lonely Road, Lisa Sawyer, Texas Sun, Hold On, Flowers, Twisting and Groovin’, Daisy Mae, Shine, Coming Home, River
Encore: Pony, Pussyfootin, Mississippi Kisses
