Tour Announcement
Aloe Blacc at Her Majesty's Theatre: rare chance to hear a soul voice that crossed into mainstream
Grammy-nominated soul artist Aloe Blacc will play Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide on Saturday 19 September as part of his Wake Me Up national tour, his first full Australian tour in more than seven years.
Aloe Blacc is coming back to Australia, and Adelaide gets the closing night. Mellen Events has confirmed the soul and R&B star will play Her Majesty's Theatre on Saturday 19 September, wrapping up a national run that also takes in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
It has been more than seven years since Blacc last toured here in full, so this is a rare chance to hear him deliver the songs that built his reputation as one of soul music's most recognisable voices. Wake Me Up, The Man and I Need a Dollar are the obvious drawcards, tracks that crossed from R&B radio into mainstream culture and stuck there. But the tour also lands at an interesting point in his career, coming off the back of Stand Together, his first new album in five years, which cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B chart and hit number one on the iTunes R&B Albums chart.
That album's mission-driven bent, each track tied to a philanthropic cause, fits with how Blacc has talked about his own evolution. He's been open about the moment he signed with XIX Recordings/Interscope and decided his voice needed to do more than entertain. Whether that comes through as more than a talking point on the night is something Adelaide audiences will get to judge for themselves.
Blacc's path to this point is unusual. He was writing rap songs at nine, released a hip-hop mixtape at seventeen, then found his way to soul and folk influences, Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye alongside Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens, during his college years. That blend, hip-hop's directness with soul's warmth and folk's lyricism, is part of what makes his live shows distinctive rather than just a hits parade.
Special guests WILSN and Birren are on the bill for the tour. Mastercard holders get presale access from Thursday 28 May at 9am, with general tickets on sale from Tuesday 2 June at 9am. Full details and tickets are through mellenevents.com.au.
For Adelaide fans who missed him last time round, this is the show to circle. Her Majesty's Theatre suits a voice like Blacc's, and a set built from Lift Your Spirit through to Stand Together should cover plenty of ground.
