Live Review: Solange Saw This Iconic Venue Off In Style

Packaged as a multi-sensory experience and boasting an ensemble of brass, strings, vocalists and dancers, Solange’s Witness! show was made for a stage like the Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall. Directed and composed by the Grammy award-winning artist, Witness! is a showcase of her self-produced fourth record, When I Get Home.

As white lights illuminated the stage, Solange and her vocalists performed captivating choreography, the singer moving from her wireless microphone to a wired one, using it as more of a prop and swinging it high above her head, perfectly in time with the music.

“I can’t be a singular expression of myself, there’s too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations,” she preached over a low cello drone, the spoken word of Can I Hold The Mic (Interlude) kicking straight into an upbeat Stay Flo, the audience jumping to their feet. This was the structure of the show – chorus-less, experimental, avant-garde pieces that kept punters seated in awe broken up by her recognisable R&B songs with more conventional structures that had everyone up and singing along.

Everyone on stage was dressed in all black. Her talented dancers, in white, made their way on stage during Way To The Show wearing cowboy hats like those worn in the interdisciplinary performance art film Solange directed to accompany the When I Get Home album.

Solange spoke about the last year being a period of transition for her – of mind, body and spirit – introducing Bridge-s, a piece she composed while “in the thick of it”. It was here that Solange took on more of the role of a conductor rather than just a performer, leading an ensemble consisting of a trombone, trumpet, sousaphone, cello, violin, bass, drums, vocalists, keys and upright piano. She stood back and allowed each instrument to shine, individually introducing the musicians and at one point allowing one of her backing vocalists to take the lead. The long piece, experimental and repetitive, crescendoed into a powerful cacophony of sound – shrill violin, frantic piano, horns blasting – leaving her audience enthralled.

Solange @ Sydney Opera House. Photo by Daniel Boud.

It took barely one bar of drumming for the crowd to recognise Cranes In The Sky. Solange's vocals shone and the crowd erupted with applause with each impressive note she hit with ease. Deafening cheers calling for more were met with an encore, and the night peaked with Don’t Touch My Hair, the stage tinted with deep red lighting.

Solange was the perfect artist to send off the Concert Hall stage before it undergoes a two-year renovation. Her shows are not your average concert, but a unique and engaging musical experience.