UK REVIEW
Presenting niche tributes make good business for venues and artistes as, when carefully chosen and well-presented, they can attract and pull-in devotees of the genre being ‘tributed’. One example is Northern Soul, which seems to appeal across many age ranges.
I joined the busy house at this Yorkshire pub venue and straight away it seemed to be that the voice of singer Carla Omerta fitted the style and substance of the music to a tee. The vocal timbre here was comfortable and extremely well-pitched. There was a mild scratchy nature to the live vocal, which could have been down to either poor chest-voice breathing technique or perhaps the common cold, which makes fools of us all at times during live shows.
Putting all that to one side Carla, clad in flower-power style mini-dress, kept the Northern Soul classics pumping, with versions of R Dean Taylor’s Ghost In My House and The Velvelettes classic cynical search for love lament, Needle In A Haystack, all sung with conviction and aplomb.
Carla’s clarion call to have fun and join in with the music was greeted with glee by a crowd of all-singing, all-dancing party people, including one rather elderly gentleman, apparently a fan of the singer, who turned up with a real tenor saxophone, which he pretended to play as he boogeyed around.
Someone even produced talcum powder to aid dancing shoe movement, as was the case at the original Wigan Casino and similar venues, back when this music was popular the first time around.
Filling in the gaps during the gig was DJ Nathan Downes, who is a great supporter and subscriber to UK Cabaret, as is venue boss Maggie Mills who was herself throwing a few shapes behind the bar as the tills continued to ring and the beer flowed copiously.
Carla Omerta and her Northern Soul Sista show can be seen up and down the land right now. She arrived at The Bankers Draught after a recommendation from local couple Adrian Holt and his partner in dance Claire ‘Tiger Feet’ Wilson. Great Fun!
