It was April at the jammed-packed Oxford Art Factory (Sydney), the last time I caught a set by Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, AKA Fantastic Negrito. That was his second visit to Australia, and that evening converted me to Fantastic. He finished that set in 2019, walking through the crowd, still singing, and finished the song at the merch desk. Now that is a grand piece of salesmanship.
The Gershwin Room at The Espy tonight was not sold out, and Negrito commented that “I guess I am still looking for an audience in Australia." No matter, he performed as if he were at Madison Square Garden.
The storied tales of him being the 8th of 15 kids when his Dad was 60, and his Mom was 30, coming from Massachusetts, his Dad was a Somali/Bahamian Muslim. The family relocated to Oakland when he was 12. He dealt drugs and had his first record deal in the 90’s. Then he had a near-fatal car crash that left him in a coma in 1999.
He disappeared for a while and reinvented himself in 2014 with his eponymous album. In 2016, 2018, and 2020, he won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Record. That’s quite the trifecta over 5 years.
His songs are filled with personal tales of loss and family, and all that goes on when you live a big life. Onstage, Negrito is a presence to be reckoned with. Playing guitar, singing, stomping and dancing around, you know he has lived these tales. Hell, he looks great for a 58-year-old man, like, I mean, he looks nothing like that many years.
This is not 12-bar blues. This is funky, soulful, innercity, Oakland music. His soulful I Hope Somebody’s Loving You was gorgeous, sounding a bit Prince-like. But it was all about the funk and rock and roll most of the night. Tinges of Led Zeppelin were channelled through his superb band as they got the dancing punters sweating as much as Negrito.
Runaway From You blasted the ears off the crowd and Chocolate Samurai was soulful funk that reminded me of some guy named Sly Stone.
His young guitarist, a 19-year-old gunslinging kid from New York (I can’t recall his name!), approached The Fantastic One and told him he knew all his songs. He not only knows them, but he has also mastered them. Uriah Duffy was remarkable and entertaining on bass, and the entire five-piece band delivered the goods.
Negrito joked about wanting to get through the written set-list (pictured), but he failed. We were not disappointed. “In The Pines” was a perfect closer; someone near me asked if it was a Nirvana song, and I had to tell them it was written by an unknown author back in 1870.
Negrito posed for pictures, sold whatever merch he had left, and was happy to press the flesh with those who came from near. And far. There were a group of people who flew from Western Australia just to see the concert.
Upon exiting, the crowd at The Espy was larger outside the Gershwin Room. It was like walking into some strange universe with Maori and Islander folks in cowboy hats and boots singing along and having one fine time. Maoli had just finished a gig at The Palais, and he came over to sing a couple of songs to his cuzzie bros hanging out after the gig. It was quite the scene.
SET LIST:
STEPSON
SCARY WOMAN
HILLBILLY LOVE
WORKING POOR
NIGHT HAS TURNED TO DAY
I HOPE SOMEBODY’S LOVING YOU
LIVING WITH STRANGERS
HUMP THRU THE WINTER
AN HONEST MAN
OH BETTY
HOW LONG?
CHOCOLATE SUMURAI – EAT LESS SUGAR HAVE MORE SEX
BEAT SALAD
BULLSHIT ANTHEM
GOOD FEELING
CALIFORNIA LONER
YOUR SEX IS OVERRATED
PLASTIC HAMBURGERS
Encore:
IN THE PINES
