The bar was packed at 9pm, with Miss Goldie spinning some corkers before the titular women of soul even came onstage. Comprising of Shirley Davis, Chelsea Wilson, Christina Arnold, and stand-outs Candice Monique and Kylie Auldist, this show was a super big pile of fun.
Monique (with the inimitable Mikey Chan on guitar) was sauce personified, and her performance licks were totally genuine – this woman is no faker. She can do fierce but graceful, and was never crass. There were definite Jamiroquai influences to her soul, and she got the d-floor moving perceptibly. Auldist was stunning as always, bringing things down a notch for a second with a track performed solo with the keys player, swaying hypnotically in her marbled dress and platform Sketchers. You can tell when vocalists are ‘present’ in the musical sense; they’re singing the words as if they’re saying them spontaneously in a conversation, with conviction and heart, and Auldist is a pro with this. She’s as beautiful in the lower registers as the delicate highs, more beautiful in fact – or ‘handsome’ as my mum would say.
For the finale all the gals got onstage, doing Heat Wave and then Salt-N-Pepa’s Whatta Man, with Monique busting out her rap chops for one of the versus (she’s damn good). This was top, top shit and I can’t wait for the next one.
BY ZOË RADAS
LOVED: Being a woman.
HATED: Is it just me or does the bar there have a pretty weird selection?
DRANK: Some sort of cider I’ve never heard of.
