Quirky NY Chick: The London Souls Rocked, Rolled & Roared

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The London Souls Rocked, Rolled & Roared

8:00 AM | Posted by Quirky NY Chick

The London Souls: February 9 @ Mercury Lounge, New York, NY

The London Souls took to the Mercury Lounge stage for the final night of their residency.

I caught two of the three residency shows and I'm officially hooked. These cats rock hard. They aren't some bullshit band of pretenders. They're straight up, all up in your face, real deal rock 'n' roll.

It may be winter out but you'd never know it from the confines of the Mercury Lounge with The London Souls busy burning up the stage! When you walk away from a show a hot sweaty mess, you know it's been a good one. The place was packed full of enthusiastic fans ... some more enthusiastic than others. There was a whole lotta booty shakin' goin' on. There was flying hair ... still trying to figure out how the girl behind me managed to whip her hair in my mouth. Yeah, lets not think about that! There was the overly energetic guy flailing about ... my poor toes will never be the same. And through it all, The London Souls blazed through a tight set.

Kiyoshi (bass/vocals) and Chris (drums/vocals) are one of the tightest rhythm sections I've witnessed at a rock show in a good while. And Tash (guitar/vocals), good gosh almighty, the man is just one of th

ose special guitarist that you need to hear live. Think a cross between Son Seals, Clapton, Hendrix & Page ... yeah, that kind of special. All, three displayed their solid rock 'n' soul vocals in fine form.

The London Souls had already won me over. Heck, they did that way back when, when I came across their MySpace page and experienced their music. Seeing them live just cemented it. Last week they gave a wicked cover of "Stay With Me" that rivaled the original. And then, last night, they gave us an encore where they proceeded to rocked the hell out of "Lucille" like nobody's business. Between that and their own songs, it was one heck of a ride! Game, set, match, ladies and gentleman, The London Souls have moved to official favorite local band status.