Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

A funk-starved Toronto audience packed Lee's Palace for a solid sold-out soul revue from the brightest star in the Daptone universe: the super-soul sister with the magnetic je ne sais quoi Ms. Sharon Jones and her all-star funk-laying boys the Dap Kings. Some people make funk music, others are born for the business and Sharon Jones is a prime example of real showmanship. Invoking the spirits of Tina and Aretha, Jones belted out the type of heartfelt soul that used to make stars out of people in the heyday of Motown. Led by contemporary groove-maker Gabe Roth on bass, the Dap Kings burned through a solid set of funk dedicated to ass-shaking and heartbreaking. From the moment the absolutely mesmerising Jones stepped on stage, the audience was hers as she shook, strutted and dripped soulful sweat over the grooviest of grooves, leaving the audience begging for more. Dappin' and dippin' into familiar tracks such as "You Better Think Twice," "Got A Thing On My Mind" and "Pick It Up, Lay it In the Cut" from her debut release under the Daptone label, Jones showed why she packs houses from here to Europe with her fierce energy and dazzling vocal range. The energy in the house was constantly kept at a peak level throughout the night and culminated with a bluesy, dirty funk rendition of "This Land is Your Land" and its b-side, "What If We All Stopped Paying Our Taxes?," dedicated to that guy in the oval office. As well as maintaining a unique vintage groove that shifted effortlessly from one funky break to the next, pulling and twisting audiences into a frenzy without missing a single beat, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings created the sort of show that burns with the animalistic magnetism that is missing from most live music today.