By Sean Lawrenson, Deputy Sports Editor
When I first saw the Stylistic were due to play Bristol, two thoughts crossed my mind. The first was wondering, albeit a tad ageist of me, whether or not they could still do it live (having formed the band back in 1968).
The second thought was of my grandmother, who despite me never having met,
was a huge Stylistics fan. ‘You lucky buggar’ my mum remarked when I had told her I’d be going to review their Monday show at the Beacon.
My first thought was quickly put to rest, when all three members came out full of energy, in glittering red and black suits, quickly launching into ‘People make the world go round’, a beautiful song famously covered by Michael Jackson on his album Ben, and the perfect way to start a set.
The majority of the heavy lifting when it came to singing fell on the shoulders of relative new member Jason Sharp, who joined in 2011, and effortlessly hit falsetto after falsetto on the way to a rapturous round of applause at the end of their beginning number.
The gig truly felt like a time capsule. Moving through their records from the Philadelphia Soul movement into more of a disco style, they were constantly imploring the audience to get up and dance ‘If you know the song, and are feeling good, get up and sing along’ remarked Airrion Love at one point.
‘Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love)’ was another personal highlight of the set, an incredibly difficult song to sing live, let alone sing and dance along at the same time, but The Stylistics (who have been doing this for over fifty years now) made it look easy, helped by a crowd that was with them every step of the way.
This brings me to my personal highlight of the evening, when the band played ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’. It truly is an absolutely wonderful song, and I heavily recommend you to go and give it a listen.
A song all about the beauty of falling in love, delivered with such emotion by Sharp, just really struck a note with me. At one point, between songs, they spoke of how their music brought people together ‘It’s amazing how much our stories have touched the lives of people,’ and I knew exactly what that was like.
Inundated with texts from my mum asking how the gig was, thinking of how my
grandmother would likely have played The Stylistics on her vinyl player in the early 70’s, swaying along to every note that I was swaying to all these years later.
The final song of the evening caught me off guard, having already played many of their more recognisable songs, they played ‘Na Na is the Saddest Word’ to close out. In hindsight, this was the perfect choice, allowing the audience to join in with the choral ‘Na Na’s’, doing what The Stylistics have always done: bring people together.
Featured Image: DawBell PRWhich gig have you been to that made your mum jealous?
