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Home » Reviews » Music » Graceland Live: With Josh Turner as Paul Simon | Review

Graceland Live: With Josh Turner as Paul Simon | Review

October 15, 2019 Last updated: October 15, 2019 8:02 pm By Chris Omaweng

GRACELAND LIVE - Josh Turner and The South African Cultural Choir UK - Photo Hamish Gill.
GRACELAND LIVE – Josh Turner and The South African Cultural Choir UK – Photo Hamish Gill.

Graceland Live would do well to follow in the footsteps of The Simon & Garfunkel Story (different show, same production company) and get into a West End theatre for a few dates. The original live event, Graceland: The African Concert, was held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1987, and featured several South African musicians, most notably Miriam Makeba (1932-2008), Hugh Masekela (1939-2018) and the famed male choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The event was politically slanted, as many of the guest musicians Paul Simon had invited to perform alongside him were barred from South Africa, at the time still very much in the throes of apartheid.

This show, then, does not seek to recreate that concert (peppered as it was with expressions of desire for a ‘free South Africa’, and the inclusion of a song which seemed to be almost entirely about demanding the release of Nelson Mandela). The playlist in the second half instead follows the studio album ‘Graceland’ released in 1986, parts of which were recorded in Johannesburg, arguably breaking the ‘cultural boycott’ informally placed on South Africa by anti-apartheid movements, in which people in the entertainment industry (film, television, music, theatre, radio, you name it) were essentially asked to have nothing to do with South Africa in terms of either performing there in any capacity or permitting productions of their work to take place there.

If you pop ‘Josh Turner’ into a search engine, you’ll probably come across a country and gospel singer. I am sure he is a fine performer, but he isn’t the guy fronting Graceland Live – you’ll need to look up ‘Joshua Lee Turner’, or on YouTube, ‘Josh Turner Guitar’ (or even, as one website put it, ‘the other Josh Turner’). His focus is very much on the music: banter doesn’t really come into it, but equally it doesn’t really need to, as Turner lets the music speak for itself. Some in the audience may have wanted a little more interaction, but I found the balance to be quite perfect – I’ve never been a fan of the kind of performer who feels the need to check whether the audience is still okay and having a good time after every other song.

Members of the South African Cultural Gospel Choir UK presented a collection of songs in the first half, of varying styles and tempos, making references to (amongst many other things) the kind of train that hurtles through countryside and cows apparently in distress. In traditional costume, they performed some enthusiastic dancing – the old-school, foot-stomping style of celebratory atmosphere created by pulsating rhythms and drumbeating. It was this kind of music that led Paul Simon to embark on his ‘Graceland’ album in the first place, and it was an interesting experience.

Contributions from Turner in the first half were derived from other areas of the Paul Simon canon, such that the entire first half was essentially a preamble to ‘Graceland’ being performed live. Turner is just as engaging and delightful on his own with one of his three on-stage guitars as he is with band and choir accompanying him at full tilt. And what began as relatively reserved Monday night audience became gradually infused and inspired by the music on stage. By the time the running order had got to ‘You Can Call Me Al’, people were on their feet, even ‘dancing’ (inverted commas mine) in the aisles, bemusing both yours truly and the venue’s bouncers.

Purists will, as ever, find reasons to be unimpressed – consider, for instance, the lack of an accordion in ‘The Boy in the Bubble’. Entirely negligible matters of that nature aside, this was an enjoyable and electrifying night out. And I wasn’t alone in thinking so – on the way out, someone in the row behind asked their companion what she thought. She reflected for a moment, then beamed, “I just don’t want to leave.”

5 Star Rating

Review by Chris Omaweng

Thirty years after the release of this ground breaking album, featuring such unforgettable songs as You Can Call Me Al, Under African Skies and Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, this incredible concert will recreate Graceland in full with painstaking attention to detail.

With New York-based musician and YouTube sensation Josh Turrner (whose own video of Graceland has been viewed 1.2 million times) as Paul Simon, the South African Cultural Choir UK recreating the fabulous Ladysmith Black Mambazo harmonies to perfection, and a live band.

London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Monday 14 October at 7.30pm

Comments

  1. Rod munns says

    October 18, 2019 at 11:13 am

    See show in Southend was brilliant shame not full house cos they missed a great night

    • Lorraine Johnson says

      October 28, 2019 at 12:32 am

      Just seen the show in Manchester and agree it’s absolutely brilliant. Everyone was on their feet by the end. A great way to spend an evening!

  2. Rod munns says

    October 18, 2019 at 11:14 am

    Brilliant show not full house but people missed out on great night.

    • Patricia Edwards says

      October 18, 2019 at 4:07 pm

      Totally Agree with you, GREAT SHOW!
      Amazing Singing & playing by all + Exhilarating Dancing by The South African Cultural Choir!
      Josh Turner is very Talented!
      A Lot of people missed out on an extremely pleasing show last night at Southend.

  3. Frances Jones says

    October 21, 2019 at 11:56 pm

    I attended the Swansea theatre gig on Saturday 19th of October… I was disappointed for him that it wasn’t a full house as it was absolutely BRILLIANT…. It’s the first time I’ve seen people up dancing in the theatre!! Myself included.! An awesome performance from a somewhat humble shy guy. He did Paul Simon proud for sure.

  4. George Goudie says

    October 23, 2019 at 9:50 am

    Saw Graceland in Glasgow. Very,very good production. Publicity understated but the show was better than most heavily advertised productions. The record (remember them) of Graceland was brought to life in front of our eyes. Real musicians doing what they really enjoy doing the most, playing great music.

    If it comes near you go and see it.

    • Margaret Robertson says

      October 23, 2019 at 9:31 pm

      My daughter bought me the tickets to see this concert as a birthday present. We already knew that Josh Turner was a real talent and his covers were excellent. Being a Paul Simon fan for as long as I can remember, when I saw this advertised- I thought it would be a good concert. Wow!! I wasn’t disappointed- the musicianship of all the players and especially Josh himself when it was just him and his acoustic guitar- really rang out through the hall. You could have heard a pin drop through some of the quieter parts- his voice soaring and not too far removed from the timbre of Paul Simon’s himself!
      It was a fabulous concert and JT really looked as if he thoroughly enjoyed himself too- especially with the response from the audience, who were on their feet and demanded an encore- and we were given a repeat performance of “You Can Call Me Al”- which had the audience cheering!!
      Paul Simon’s wonderful songs are in very reliable hands with Mr Josh Turner. I’m looking forward to hearing what he comes up with next!

  5. Nigel Price says

    October 27, 2019 at 1:24 am

    Saw this show in Malvern this evening. What a fabulous performance! The band were in fine form, especially the fretless bass player, who reproduced the Graceland album’s fluid bass lines with real authority and finesse. The South African Cultural Gospel Choir were ebullient, filling the theatre with their wonderful harmonies and rhythms. But Josh Turner as Paul Simon was simply sensational. A fine guitarist and vocalist, he not only sounded like Simon, but breathed fresh life and vigour into every number he played. As elsewhere, the audience were up and dancing by the end, and we were treated to two encores: “Me & Julio down by the schoolyard” and a reprise of “Call me Al”. A wonderful concert and a great night out.

  6. Jillie Usher says

    October 30, 2019 at 4:31 pm

    Saw Josh Turner and South African Gospel choir in The Grand theatre, Swansea. What a brilliant show! Such a pity it wasn’t a full house because he and the singers and group were absolutely enthralling. What a talented young man, such a pleasure to have seen him in action. We’d lived in Zambia and Zimbabwe and so the choir singing evoked wonderful memories and their wonderful sound really brought a happy tear or two to my eyes. The standing ovation was so well deserved.

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