Ten years ago last month, I wrote about Leon Bridges, who at the time was a relatively unknown artist from Fort Worth, Texas making country-soul music in the vein of Sam Cooke and declared that he showcased some tremendous promise with a bright future. Now, a decade later, he's in New York City to headline three sold-out shows at the legendary Beacon Theatre. Watching his rise from obscure songwriter to a bonafide pop artist who has played award shows and made late night appearances around the world has been a tremendous experience and seeing him take the stage at such an iconic venue really made it clear just how much his star has risen over the years and how far his career has come. Backed now by a seven-piece band, Bridges' sound is crips, clean, and highly polished, giving him a perfectly primed position to deliver his range of tunes that mix gospel, Motown, and classic R&B with modern pop techniques. Naturally, he kicked things off with his more recent material from his latest record and began to croon to the crowd with his delicate rasp and slight twist of the hips. As he loosened up, his groove began to become accentuated and he started to move around the stage to assert himself beyond his airy vocals and showoff his flair for style as well. When he first appeared on the scene, Bridges remarked about his time spent growing up in Texas dancing to Ginuwine's "Pony" to an obsessive degree, a comment that never reflected his music of the time which spent more time relying on nostalgia from generations prior rather than radio hits of the bump and grind era. Now that he's come more into his own, this backstory makes much more sense as the sensual nature of songs like "Motorbike" commanded the crowd to twist and shake with more passion and lust than when he busted out his own classic "Coming Home." Of course the older tunes were the ones to get people to their feet (a conflict that plagued the audience throughout the evening and I swear I've never seen a crowd commit less on making the decision as whether or not to sit or stand) and allowed the theatre to boogie down with pure satisfaction. Basking in the glow of warm golden lights, he serenaded us with "Texas Sun" in glistening fashion, once again having the crowd relish in the moment and sway along to the blissful melody. "Bad Bad News" found it's jazz-inspired funk beat and made it bounce around the room with ultimate swagger, his band showing off their excellent skills that really made the show come together and allowed for Leon to take center stage while they held it all in place. Stripping things down to just him and an electric guitar, he took us to church with a religious experience invoking version of "River" that had people throwing their hands to the sky while the elegant voices on stage came together for some truly holy harmonies that gave the night its pinnacle moment in stunning form. After "Smooth Sailing" finally got Leon to be his most free and grooving self of the night, his arms outstretched as he shifted twitched behind the microphone, he returned with an acoustic guitar to kick-off the encore and lead us through a touching rendition of "Lisa Sawyer" that had people clutching their chests and watching on with pure wonder. He brought it all home with sparkling take on "Beyond" that once again had people reaching for the roof as we collectively joined along in the rapturous chorus all while Leon watched along with a smile from ear to ear.
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