A soulful good time with Charles Bradley at UCLA’s Royce Hall

By Pete Mauch //

Charles Bradley with Menahan Street Band //
Royce Hall – Los Angeles, CA
November 29th, 2012 //

Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band graced UCLA’s Royce Hall last Thursday, and they treated the diverse crowd to an awe-inspiring show.

Menahan Street Band started things off with a 30-minute set of groove-oriented jams that got the crowd geared up for “The Screaming Eagle of Soul.” Bradley was subsequently introduced to the stage by his somersaulting keyboardist, who was also the emcee for the night.

Once the Menahan guys broke into “Heartaches and Pain” and the soul-legend-in-the-making grabbed his mic, the show never let up. Bradley tells his story of hardship with such genuine passion. Then with little transition, he’s able to pivot to a funky dance song like “No Time for Dreaming”.

It was great to see such a diverse crowd at Royce Hall. I saw tattooed punkers singing along with 50-year-old professors to “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)” and it’s clear that Bradley has the power to bring together so many different walks of life.

There were numerous times when Bradley approached the audience toward the front of the stage to shake hands and give hugs to people in the crowd. After he played an inspired version of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” where I found myself screaming out “God Bless You, Charles Bradley!” He came right over and grabbed me teary-eyed before saying, “I see, I see you have a good soul.” While I know this continues to be part of his stage routine, it was one of my musical highlights of the year and felt truly genuine in the moment.

Bradley would pay homage to his biggest influence, James Brown, and covered “Gonna Have a Funky Good Time”, which had the crowd dancing around ecstatically. He ended the night with “Why Is It So Hard” that sums up the story of his life and was a great way to wrap up an incredible show.

“The Screaming Eagle of Soul” is a must-see artist.