Photos, Video and Words by G.
June 21, 2013 was a very great night for music! A sold out show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom featured the talents of Belgian singer Selah Sue and Bushwalla (who hails from America). I saw Selah Sue perform at Bowery Ballroom about a year ago and she opened for Emeli Sande. It was no surprise that she is now headlining her own shows. Her voice has elements of Amy Winehouse and Adele and she often throws in a reggae or acoustic vibes to her songs which makes it impossible not to groove along with her.
The show began at 9 pm with Ohio’s William Galewood, better known as Bushwalla, getting the audience warmed up with a set that featured acoustic rap (yes!), R&B, soul, as well as a cover of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” and Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” Bushwalla was great as he played acoustic guitar whilst rapping. He had a killer smile that the entire audience fell in love with and in between songs, he had everyone in stitches with funny little anecdotes about the music. He wasn’t just all rap and funky acoustic beats though. Bushwalla has a really great singing voice too, and he hit some notes that had the whole of Bowery Ballroom showering him with thunderous applause.
At 10 PM, Selah Sue took to the stage. Starting off with expressing her gratitude that she sold out a headlining gig in New York (which will clearly be one of many many more to come), she sang an acoustic track called “Always Home” (see below for video!) After the song, she was joined by her band and they ripped through great sounding versions of tracks off her self-titled album. There were so many highlights including an acoustic version of “Fyah Fyah.” She also performed a solo version of the song “Please” which was originally recorded with Cee-Lo Green. A video of that will also be coming next week, so bookmark this site if you have not already! Selah took many opportunities to thank the crowd, but the feeling of love was definitely mutual.
If you are unfamiliar with the music of Selah Sue or Bushwalla, I highly recommend that you fix that immediately as there are so many great songs that await your discovery. After the jump, you can see Selah Sue’s setlist as well as my trademark – photos with the performers. Thanks again to Bushwalla and Selah Sue for a great night!
Thanks again Selah and Bushwalla!