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Van Hunt and Co. Deserve Headlining Bill |
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Contributed by NICK POWILLS / Photos by BARRY BRECHEISEN
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Wednesday, 19 July 2006 |
With some House of Blues executive brutally waving his hands for Van Hunt and Co. to exit the stage to make way for the Brand New Heavies, the funkadelic phenomenon glanced at the angry producer and just kept playing. That’s a rockstar!
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Van Hunt
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 Entertainment
Art
House of Blues
Chicago, Ill.
July 12, 2006
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In front of a semi full house, Van Hunt played a gorgeous set full of jam sessions and feet hoping magic, as the highly underrated artist blended sounds of the past and present, focusing primarily on his recently released sophomore album, “On the Jungle Floor.” Accompanied by a great backing band (which includes Elizabeth Nation, possibly the hottest girl I have ever seen work a keyboard – please call me if you read this), Van Hunt rocked out the House of Blues, making most of the crowd wonder how the Brand New Heavies (a reunited group from the late 80s/early 90s) could even come close to competing with the sounds of the opener – which they didn’t.
Van Hunt, who is noticeably influenced by 70s legends, even ventured into the cover-zone by jamming out to Sly and the Family Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher,” during his 55-minute set that even included, very unheard of, an encore performance, which highlighted his diva attitude. Rather than jumping off stage at the 45-minute scheduled set time, Van Hunt continued to jam and excite the crowd. I for one was definitely disappointed when he left the stage, as I craved more – lots more. Van Hunt has the musical skill set, stage presence/persona, and vocal talent to play to a packed house as the headlining band.
Although Van Hunt’s performance was nothing less than stellar, it’s a wonder how this major label artist hasn’t broken into bigger fame. Why is Van Hunt still and opener? Why aren’t music fans flocking to his band wagon? Both questions remain unanswered, but definitely two questions that make no sense at all.
Van Hunt’s energy-full performance will definitely go down as one of the top performances that I have ever seen at Chicago’s HOB. Too bad he didn’t have the opportunity to play longer. The best thing that came out of the night: Van Hunt just made a new fan! Solid performance. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
