LIVE: RUBBER SOULED @ Fringe World Festival, Perth

Shane | 7 February 2018 | Reply

LIVE: RUBBER SOULED @ Fringe World Festival, Perth
Saturday, 3 February, 2018
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Starring The Milford Street Shakers, Rubber Souled re-imagines classic hits from The Beatles through the soulful R&B lens of Motown.

A twelve piece ensemble which includes the velvet might of singer Lee Morunga’s vocals, a triple horn and triple backing vocal assault and all the percussion you can dream up to bring the magic of Motown and The Beatles colliding together in foot tapping, hand clapping, singalong glory.

The band bring a lush, honeyed, cabaret lounge cool to the material, and their connection to these songs – I Want To Hold Your Hand, Day Tripper given the full Otis Redding treatment, Ticket To Ride, Revolution a la Nina Simone, a gorgeously touching acoustic Blackbird, Baby You Can Drive My Car, a passionate and bouncy We Can Work It Out, and a slinky, sexy, trumpet-tastic She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, amongst others – is obvious.

Let It Be is a rare thing of beauty, presented percussion-heavy and with New Orleans Baptist preacher fervour, so good that And I Love Her and Help following it seem anti-climactic by comparison, but proceedings rap back up with Ob La Di Ob La Da and a moving ensemble version of Hey Jude which draws on heavy emotions.