Bilal Shows NYC A Lot On 'Little One' Summer Tour



For me, seeing the ever-elusive Bilal Oliver perform has been on my musical bucket list for seven years now. It seems I had always "almost seen" him live only to find that something, usually timing or money, always thwarted the mission. I was able to get a small glimpse of the man during an impromptu The Roots Jam Session at B.B. King Blues Club in NYC about three years ago, where he came out and performed his 88-Keys collabo "M.I.L.F." and even hollered for a bit before quickly exiting stage left, and that small taste let me know that I had to experience the full thing.
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Fast forward to this past Friday, and I finally got my chance. I again found myself walking through the familiar doors of B.B. King to see Bilal perform during his "Little One" tour stop there produced by Jill Newman Productions. The tour, through which he is also promoting the charity Autism Speaks, is inspired by his single "Little One" an ode to his oldest son who battles with the illness. Opening for Mr. Oliver was Chris Turner, a SoulBounce fave and Bilal's backup singer. He opened with an a cappella version of Lauryn Hill's "Sweetest Thing" that got all the ladies in the house open (the gasps and deafening claps after were clear indicators) and then did two of his own tracks, "All You Need" and "Liquid Love." He cleared the stage soon after, allowing a brief changing of the guard as the rest of Bilal's musicians took the stage.

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Strutting onto the stage with his head and shoulders draped by a large red-, black-, yellow- and green-striped scarf, Bilal wasted no time launching into "Something to Hold on To." Technical difficulties interrupted what would've been a seamless transition into "Make Me Over." His bass player's amp blew out, causing a brief halt. While they tried to fix it, Bilal decided to sing a blow-by-blow of the situation and then just forgo the bass for the song. Not to worry, though, as the problem was soon fixed just in time for the funky groove of "Gotsta Be Cool." Next was "All for Love," my all-time favorite song that he's ever done. He did it justice live, though the punch of the live horns on the record were sorely missed. He ended his Love for Sale set with "Lord Don't Let It," which went from smoothed out plea to a "late in the midnight hour" call to arms.

A 1st Born Second medley came after, with him trotting out his first hits, like "For You," "Reminisce" and "Fast Lane." The highlight of this set, however, was his inclusion of "Love Poems." The song was like a greeting from an old friend, and I, as well as the rest of the audience, sang along like it was the first time we heard it. He stepped off stage a bit, letting the band play a brief solo. The band started playing a familiar groove as he stepped to the mic again and shouted "This is a song that makes me spill out all my guts!" and set off "Sometimes" much to the crowd's delight.

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"Cake and Eat It Too" and "Robots" brought us into his most recent offering, Airtight's Revenge. Before he performed the touching "Little One" he gave a brief speech about autism and alerted them to the three ladies representing Autism Speaks near the entrance. Though I was on the fence about "Little One" (it's such a straightforward record from someone who's always been just left of center), I enjoyed it live and even got a bit misty. From there, he brought us "Restart" before giving us full energy on "Levels" and "All Matter," where the growling, shouting Bilal I'd heard about finally came out to play. After he got done showing out, he left the stage as the band played him off.

When encore time came around, of course he dusted off "Soul Sista" one more 'gin and of course the ladies ate it up with spoons. Even some of the fellas got into the act ("Sing that s**t, boy!" one screamed from the bar). Chris got the chance to do his thing at the end as well, getting a bit too into it at one point, but all was forgiven as the song and night came to a close. As I left the venue into the slight chill of the night air, I was glad to cross yet another show off my musical bucket list.

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