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This was Syl Johnson's first time in Sydney. He's previously toured in Australia, but never made it to the capital city. Backed by The Bamboos, described by Johnson as "some bad motherfuckers", a popular Melbourne funk band. They're well known in their own right, but they've also made a name for themselves backing international artists such as Eddie Bo & Joe Bataan. This is their second tour with Johnson.
Johnson's style is quite similar to Sam Cooke. His soul delivery and energy was exciting and captured the large audience. Al Green's "Take Me to the River" was a hit for him in 1975 and is just as powerful now, almost heading into gospel territory with his female backing singer.
Johnson has described his song "Different Strokes" as "the most sampled track of all time", having been used by Kanye West, Jay-Z, and the Wu-Tang Clan, among many others. Johnson's been quoted as saying "Wu Tang basically built my house".
A short speech by him about equality moved into "Maybe It's Because I'm Black?", a song penned by him that which bluntly explores themes of the African-American identity and social issues. During the speech someone in the audience shouted out the title to the song, leading to shocked gasps from people who didn't know the song, thinking that the guy was racially heckling Syl. This all changed once the song got going.
Towards the end of the gig the lights on stage failed. Luckily the sound wasn't affected, so the band kept going, with Syl on guitar for a rendition of "E Blues", that continued until the lights returned.
