Summer Sounds in the Domain with Chaka Khan – review
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Version 0 of 1. On a clear and warm Saturday night in Sydney, tens of thousands of people descended on the Domain to have a party in a park. None of them got to pick the music, but nobody seemed to mind. A steady stream of arrivals throughout the afternoon saw the park in Sydney’s CBD at – or at least near – capacity by showtime, strewn with picnic rugs and wine bottles as Sydney settled in for the gig. Australian DJ Tom Loud, aka Hot Dub Time Machine, was providing the music, taking the crowd through an edited version of his chronological history of hits, with headliner Chaka Khan providing a one-off funk spectacular, of which everyone definitely knew two songs. Hot Dub was fun, and pleased the crowd with songs from artists including Ray Charles, the Kinks, Queen, Prince, the Spice Girls, and the Killers, but some decades were frustratingly rushed and his vocal encouragements were too frequent. Nevertheless, people danced as far back as the portaloos and the crowd upfront went off after a gigantic balloon drop during – of course – 99 Luftballons. More than anything else, the whole show needed to be much, much louder. Hot Dub got swamped by the vast venue at this volume – but if you are lucky enough to have tickets to his full show I predict you’ll have a ball. The sound was louder for Khan, but poor mixing meant your experience varied depending on where in the Domain you’d laid your blanket. Khan, 60 but going on 20, was faultless. She commanded the stage, with that Voice soaring through the night, and the dancefloor heaving. Conversation was limited but off the cuff as she whipped out her phone to take a shot of the crowd and invited them to “tweet me!”. There’s no denying she and her band are solid performers – although I’d forgotten about endless drum solos at funk shows – and for fans it was delirium. Khan has said she doesn’t like playing some of her bigger songs but does so for the fans, and for the vast majority of the Domain crowd these were the songs they came to hear. Not until her final two numbers – I’m Every Woman and Ain’t Nobody – did the back two thirds of the park give her their full attention. A big finish to a great party. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |