Written by Scott Russell, contributor
Close your eyes and picture a soul singer.
I’m willing to bet that you’re not picturing a young man with wavy blond hair down to his shoulders, huge thick-rimmed glasses, a scruffy beard and a toothy grin, which is to say that you’re not picturing Allen Stone.
The 27-year-old preacher’s son, born in the tiny town of Chewelah, Wash., might not look like your average R&B musician, but that’s because he isn’t: he’s better. A self-described “hippie with soul,” the enormously talented singer-songwriter has risen from obscurity to “selling out venues where the audience is bigger than his hometown’s entire population,” as written on Stone’s website.
In our current state of music, where mind-numbing electronic dance music (also known as EDM) made on laptops reigns supreme, Stone is on a mission to write nothing but soulful, socially conscious songs and to make genuine connections with his audiences. He did just that at the Center Stage Theater this past Saturday night, just down the street from SCAD, in what he proclaimed was “ the most people that have ever come to my show in Atlanta!”
Stone’s opening acts included The Shadowboxers, a polished five-piece pop outfit from right here in Atlanta, and Bad Rabbits, a livewire funk rock band hailing from Boston, Mass. Both groups gave strong showings, earning enthusiastic ovations from the energetic and diverse audience. Bad Rabbits in particular got the crowd jumping, clapping and singing along. After that, it was time for the man of the hour.
Dressed in a camouflage jacket, jeans, high-tops, a backwards hat and his signature glasses, Stone took the stage along with his band at about 10:15 p.m., met by a deafening roar from the crowd. They kicked things off with lively love song “Freezer Burn,” followed by a new anti-EDM anthem called “Fake Future,” in which Stone asks, “What good is my microphone if I don’t really sing? What good is my music if it isn’t really me?”
Next came “Say So,” a feel-good track from Stone’s self-titled debut album, during which Stone continued to lay out his mission statement for the night: “This evening is about one thing … the energy of real music, played in real time, by real musicians!” The audience, clearly full of that energy, sang and danced right along with Stone, who showed off quite a few smooth moves.
In keeping with the show’s spirit of in-the-moment spontaneity, during the following song, “Celebrate Tonight,” Stone’s guitar strap snapped, his instrument falling to the floor. Stone kept right on crooning, literally without missing a beat. The man has serious pipes – he spent his entire 15-song set showing off his vocal range, hitting every high note with ease in a soaring falsetto, and delighting both his audience and his bandmates in equal measure.
By the end of the evening, Stone’s infectious enthusiasm had fully filtered its way into the crowd. After a sustained ovation, the soul man and his band returned to the stage for a three-song encore, which began with a slow-burning R&B ballad and ended with “Satisfaction,” a crowd-pleasing roofraiser that most definitely earned its title in the eyes of the audience.
Stone might not look like your average soul singer, but he’s on his way to becoming a great one all the same.
