I feel lucky to experience Living Colour for the second time in my life – I’m still buzzing from my first experience of seeing this band live! For me, no other live band has been able to surpass their level of performance.
25 July at the Brudenell was amazing, with the bonus of two incredibly good support bands – Jared James Nichols and Wayward Sons.
My brain is still processing because there aren’t enough words in our vocabulary to explain the magnificence of Living Colour in my opinion. Their performance made me feel like my DNA had been upgraded and the neural pathways in my brain had been slightly rewired.
Living Colour’s members are
Will Calhoun – Drummer
Corey Glover – Vocalist
Vernon Reid – Guitarist
Doug Wimbish – Bassist
The band incorporates many music genres, including punk, jazz, funk and heavy metal. They formed in the mid 80’s and hail from New York City, where they developed their band at CBGB’s, the famed New York venue opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal. Mick Jagger embraced them, produced their demo and helped them to secure a record deal with Epic.
Their debut album Vivid was released in the summertime of 1988. From this album, their song “Cult of Personality” was accompanied by a stunning video which was played on MTV and resulted in the anthem launching them up the charts to platinum status.
In the 1989 Grammy Awards “Cult of Personality” won Best Hard Rock Performance. In this time period, they opened for The Rolling Stones on their first US tour in eight years.
Many albums followed Vivid including – Time’s Up (1990), Stain (1993), The Chair in the Doorway (2009) and Shade (2017) all having a separate story for their creations like mini films with changing and moving characters, storylines, beginnings and endings.
Over 30 years on and Living Colour are still relevant, still leading, still creating and still excelling… and still playing in Leeds! Keeping it real with the Yorkshire folk. Fist punch y’all!
After being thoroughly warmed up by two exceedingly great support bands, Jared James Nichols and Wayward Sons, and after a lengthier stage set up which made the excitement and anticipation grow, Living Colour arrived on the stage, one by one, telling us that their set would comprise songs from their debut album, Vivid, as well as some new material. Everyone was happy with this prospect of reliving the groundbreaking timelessness of the album.
“Ignorance is Bliss” was the first track delivered. Corey hardly had to sing, with the whole crowd relaying the lyrics like they wrote and owned the song themselves. Fabulous participation and showing of love, although this “collaboration” pales into insignificance with “Cult of Personality”. Boom! It was really on now! The anthem is alive and well! Corey could have actually taken a break at this point already. It was quite the crowd performance! The band has no need to advertise if they ever want backing singers. There’s a whole Brudenell sized room ready to go any time!
Next up, “I Wanna Know” is a bouncy, upbeat, more 80’s popesque track. Yes indeed, Living Colour can do bouncy! They’re musical geniuses; they can do anything! I love this track, being a fan of 80’s culture. It has a feel-good sound. I can see it on a soundtrack for one of the “cooler” American teen flicks about boy likes girl, going to the prom kind of thing; you know what I mean. Something which fits; something memorable; lasting. (Doug was playing with such enthusiasm that he jutted the arm of his guitar out into the crowd, nearly taking my eye out. All is forgiven, Doug. I have another eye!)
“Desperate People” followed, a track which is heavier, but offering a nice balance amongst all the instruments. On the CD version I can hear and feel each instrument distinctly, with Vernon’s guitar taking the slight edge. During the gig, Corey and Vernon had a lot of funny banter about the sound level of Vernon’s guitar verses the sound level of Corey’s vocals. It may be the case that Vernon’s guitar was lower than normal, to the dismay of a few disgruntled people in the audience who voiced their opinions – with humour of course – at the sound crew to which Doug reminded everybody “This is live music!” Indeed it is, Doug.
The next song is “A Letter To A Landlord”. This should be the anthem against gentrification everywhere! Corey’s vocals come in slow, smooth and soulful, then rip into some heavy rock, between the smooth and the hard and meandering between both vibes throughout the track.
This is why I love Living Colour so much. As an African American rock band, they have the natural and authentic ability to incorporate the known black music art genres such as soul, funk, jazz, blues, hip hop, reggae and the unknown black music arts genres such as classical, country and rock. Modern-day music has its roots in blues music, which is a whole other show in itself. Living Colour have effectively brought rock home and all music artists, not just rock artists, are richer for it, not to mention the audiences!
So, I managed to miss the title of the next song. Why? It was the hottest day in the UK since records began. 38.7 degrees on Thursday 25th July 2019 for your personal records and any future pub quizzes. I don’t know every single song by Living Colour, but I soon will. Corey was looking at me as if to ask why am I taking notes. (I did explain to him at the end of the concert I was reviewing.). All three matters contributed to the title of this particular song completely evading me. I can at least say it had a calypso vibe to it, which I appreciated, having Caribbean culture myself.
Back on form and back in the game, I hear the next title of the song, God bless me and it’s “What’s Your Favourite Colour?” Being a fan of colour, it sounds like this question is made for me! What’s your favourite colour baby?” the lyrics go. “Living Colour” is the answer. This is now my new response to anybody asking me this question. Corey launches the song with a kind of James Brown-style scream and with the funky fast-paced finger patterns on guitar going all the way through the song.
Looking at the crowd behind me, I can’t remember the last time I was in a room of strangers and having so much fun. Living Colour has that special factor where they draw people from different music tastes to them. Some were obviously die hard rock or heavy metal fans, but lots were soul fans, blues fans, jazz fans, a few hip hop heads, but all of us were real good music fans!
Rachel, a first timer, said “I hadn’t heard of Living Colour. I’m only here because of my partner Wayne, but I have been able to dance to every single track, even though I’ve never heard their music before. I really like the different music styles in their songs. They’re great and for everybody!”
Next to be played was Operation Mind Control. Noisy as hell from beginning to end! A track people would identify as “traditional” rock for a want of better word. This for me is a hard rock track and Will’s drums are prevalent, which is great to hear. The chorus goes “It’s operation mind control. It’s the battle for America’s soul”. This is a song from their Collideascope album which was released in 2009. Ten years later, here we are with the USA in all kinds of soul crises and it’s not just America fighting for its soul.
Another reason why I love Living Colour is because right from the get go they have been writing lyrical content which pricks our social conscience, transforming rock music from thoughtful to intellectual. I’d guide any philosophy or politics student directly to their music. To add to this, their “fortune telling abilities” are 100%, because the contents of their albums have never been more vividly apt than right now in our present day. How well they named their debut album! It’s as if they knew.
We have been listening to these amazing classic songs and I know we haven’t even scratched the surface of their catalogue. The crowd were loving it and didn’t want any of it to stop.
The next song was the second song I heard from Living Colour after hearing “Cult” and I remember being quite blown away by the use of their musical diversity so early on in their career. “Love Rears Its Ugly Head” is a blues song that sounds like a soul song and is presented as a rock song. Three for the price of one! Corey’s vocals on this are simply beautiful. The quality and sincerity of his voice are what gives it the blues element.
This was it now. The last song. I feel like a kid when your parents say it’s time for bed and you soooo don’t want to go! It’s been a mighty good run of songs and I feel like I’ve been on a beautiful journey that has only just begun, so bring on the closing track. I’m still travelling.
Did you hear Elvis is dead? Yeah, but I saw him in Morrisons in the freezer aisle buying some frozen patties! The nonsense, hypocrisy and delusion of Elvis and who and what he was and is, is encapsulated in the song “Elvis Is Dead”. The Elvis from the 50’s and 60’s may be dead, but he lives on in many others who have committed cultural theft and acquired their “talent” and gained a title for it. Living Colour can tell it how it is accurately, intelligently and with humour. Corey even treated us all to some Elvis hip swishing action. It was as if Elvis was in the room with us! I’m sure he would have approved. Elvis did leave the building and eventually so did we.
I am genuinely stunned by the level of skill to which Living Colour have developed their craft, one which demands the listener’s focus and attention. They should put up a sign: “Geniuses at work. May change the way you appreciate music FOREVER!”
The gig is a memorable one for many reasons, which could require another article. I will say here – that there are some things you have to do before you meet your maker, and to experience seeing musicians of this calibre live on stage has to be on your bucket list!
Until we meet again. Always Living Colour!
All photographs by Jazz Jennings.
