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Taken from Metro News (June 10, 2019)
Chaka Khan takes us on a disco journey as she headlines Cross The Tracks
Chaka Khan headlined the first ever Cross The Tracks festival on Sunday, emitting warmth and pure disco joy across London's Brockwell Park in Brixton.
by Cydney Yeates
Chaka Khan headlined Cross The Tracks Festival(Picture: Isy Townsend) |
The iconic Queen of Funk, who's real name is Yvette Marie Stevens, looked effortlessly chic as she arrived on stage 10 minutes ahead of schedule, a move we were all thankful for given that rain began to spit as American jazz singer Masego warmed the crowd up with his sultry tones beforehand.
With a music career spanning almost five decades and an almighty catalogue of material, the singer songwriter began her hour-long set with This Is My Night and instantly electrified audiences into a groove.
A complete mixture of ages filled the crowd too, with children of the 70s and 80s reveling in the disco hits alongside thousands, like me, who weren't even glimpses in their parents eyes when the majority of Chaka's repitoire was released.
Chaka made reference to all the young faces in the crowd too, telling us: 'Hey a few of the songs - most of you guys are too young.'
But the notion of a whole new generation of fans excited her and she even welcomed a six-year-old onto the stage with her, before allowing her to go back to her parents shortly afterwards when the child nervously said on the mic she didn't want to show off her vocal ability.
Chaka's hour-long set was filled with her classic hits (Picture: Isy Townsend) |
One thing that dampened Chaka's performance though was the abysmal live cameras which were pretty much off target throughout and meant that thousands of festival goers had to bear witness to Chaka's back and side if they weren't lucky enough to find themselves stood within eye distance.
On top of dodgy angles of the band, the cameras also managed to pick up the bored backstage staff with one guy making several appearances with his arms crossed and a miserable demeanor slapped across his face - did he not know he was in the presence of a legend? A 10-time Grammy award winner? Apparently not.
The singer opted to not make use of backing dancers and graphics and that was okay as her powerful vocals had us all wide-eyed - not to mention watching her kick the air with her left leg during I'm Every Woman.
Chaka rounded off her dusk performance with her most notorious hit Ain't Nobody after telling crowds: 'Everyone deserves everlasting love and that's the love I have for you' and 'I just wanna say I love you so f****** much.'
Shame the night couldn't have lasted forever.
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