Anthony Hamilton Show at Canal Room, NYC, Jan 25, 2006

Rhythm & Blues and soul singer Anthony Hamilton’s CD release party took place on Wednesday, January 25th, 2006 at the Canal Room in New York City. When I arrived, the line of people stretched out from the entrance on West Broadway all the way out to Canal Street – it was a madhouse. The scheduled time for the sold-out show was 10:00 p.m., however, his performance did not start until an hour past that. At the proposed time of the concert, the mid-sized intimate venue filled its quota of people. Waiting for the artist in such a confined space was noticeably uncomfortable for the fans. Nevertheless, they did not seem to mind as they sipped on their cocktails and danced to the beats of the two DJs spinning R&B and funk.

The crowd was young and diverse, with a large presence of African-Americans ranging from their mid twenties to their mid thirties. Their trendy caps, shirts, smart jerseys, stylish glasses, and in some cases, gold medallions hinted at the general affluence of the audience. Nothing was going to spoil their evening out and although the performance was delayed by an hour, the public’s response to the show was extremely positive. Hamilton came onto the small stage he was greeted with a loud roar from the crowd – half admiration for a rising superstar, and half relief that the concert would finally begin.

The first half of the show featured his slower and downtempo repertoire and the latter half brought in his most powerful and upbeat melodies. The last fifteen minutes were easily the most evocative; his back-up vocalists were brought to the front of the stage and the song “Preacher’s Daughter” was turned into an emotional duet with one of the female singers. Hamilton’s soulful voice was powerful and the melodies sweet, if not nostalgic. He seemed to gain comfort onstage as the night went on and transmitted a lot of positive energy. The two keyboards and drum players, bass, guitarist and vocalists also seemed to enjoy themselves, and played with a tightness that was demonstrative of their long familiarity. The crowd responded enthusiastically to these attributes and would cheer, clap and whoop with all their might at the end of each song, begging for more.

Although Hamilton’s delivery was strong and engaging, his performance could have been improved by interacting more with his band members and back up vocals, like he did for his phenomenal performance of “Preacher’s Daughter.” In addition, instead of saving his more uptempo songs for last, choosing to perform them throughout would have kept me more engaged. Unfortunately, his performance was interrupted by some technical problems with the microphones and house sound that took away some of the magic from the experience.

Nevertheless, appropriate lighting was chosen reflecting the mood of each song. Mellow yellow, orange, pink, purple and red lights were used for the slower and more romantic melodies; blue and green for the sadder ones while bright white lights came on for the up-tempo songs. In the middle of each act, the lights would go down and come up adding an element of theatre to the performance.

Although the concert was entertaining, it did not have a significant, lasting impact on me. However, Giant Step and the record label provided a nice surprise for the crowd by giving away three free CDs at the end of the show. Overall, I would say that Anthony put on a decent show and it was a fun night. The devoted fans were certainly not disappointed.