Jon Batiste’s performance at Royal Festival Hall on the longest – and hottest – day of the year (21 June) tops the list as the best things you could do to fill the hours. As part of the South Bank Centre’s artist-curated festival, Meltdown, hosted this year by British rapper, Little Simz, there were a wide variety of activities and concerts for audiences, artists and creatives on offer and the venue, inside and out, was buzzing with music before doors had even opened for the concert.
One solitary, almost orange stage light focused on the iconic Steinway & Sons insignia brought calm to the stage before Batiste entered to stadium-like cheers and even a standing ovation. His ear-to-ear grin and gentle appreciation of the applause had the audience eating out of his hand as he took his time to begin the first piece.
He ‘warmed up’ with a few piano compositions, impressing with his classical skill and using the piano to the full extent, delighting with different sound qualities, the booming, deep, powerful sound of the low notes and the twinkling higher register adding delicate touches. With eyes closed, the music was clearly being felt throughout the hall.
As he addressed the audience with warmth and gratitude, he brought a familiar melody to the stage and had everyone singing along with Oh When the Saints and segued into a few Beethoven pieces from his Beethoven Blues album, including the 5th Symphony and Fur Elise with all the touches of New Orleans slipping out in all the right places.
Speaking about how music is still a universal language, that’s been around since the beginning when there was “Fire, water and rhythm…”, the audience once again delighted in singing along to CRY and FREEDOM, at which point, Batiste snuck to the back of the stage to produce a melodica.
Batiste spoke about early influences like Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk and played a blues from each composer adding his own spin and brief solos to each. Followed by another foot-stompin’ favourite in I Need You. One might think these songs would be lacking without all the production elements and a solid bass line and horn solos but the huge presence of Batiste at the piano was more than enough to do the job.
He took a journey through a collection of songs including classics from Louis Armstrong, The Beatles, Beethoven, Irish Traditionals to Tupac, Leonard Cohen and American traditionals before finishing on one of his own compositions Butterfly.
This was another reminder that all these genres, styles and eras of music bring people together in ways that only music can accomplish. While, of course, the audience here has chosen to be in this room together, each snippet of music would have sparked differently in each pair of ears. Batiste brought them all together, smiles, memories, positivity, in a way that felt like a type of church. What a skill to hold.
An encore of his song It’s All Right from the animated film “Soul” and a special last minute guest, Batiste’s young nephew, who couldn’t have been more than 10, played the bass with him had everyone’s hearts bursting with pride. This is what music is all about!
