It was a few minutes before the concert was to begin and you could see she was a bag of nerves. "Just about everything that could have gone wrong preparing for tonight's concert has gone wrong", the expectant mother admitted. But she added, with the confidence we've come to know, "a bad dress rehearsal means more than often not a great show". And yes, from sheer pleasure her baby jumped onto her lap. When it's born in February, it's bound to be a WOLK of a child. Because last Saturday evening, just after midnight, this lady gave birth to one hell of an evening : The Soul of Axelle Red.

"I'm just the thread running through the evening", admitted the redhead coyly before the show. Not surprising since her special guests and band are all soul music's living legends. In the sold out Sportpaleis this "thread" spun 18 carat gold magic.

Soul train
It began a little lamely with an unnecessary helping of Wilson In the Midnight Hour Pickett. But after the interval an unstoppable soul train rolled by over the tracks as soon as the band, led by Lester Snell, got into their groove. Ann Peebles, 51, gave us her I Can't Stand The Rain with enviable soul power. The way Percy Sledge, still as good-humoured as ever, treated us to his When A Man Loves A Woman makes a Teletubby look anything but cuddly. In his own words, he was apparently so envious that he left Axelle Red to go it alone on the duet Love Like Yours (Amoureuse ou pas). She might have gone it alone, but how! Full of life, literally and figuratively, telling the audience what her special guests meant for her. Should pop music ever enter the university syllabus, then this Soul of Axelle Red must be top of the compulsory viewing, that's how close she was to Dusty Springfield's Son Of A Preacher Man.

Radiant respect
The Belgian string ensemble shone at the side of Clarence G. Carter, a blind singer with a sense of humour. "When I look at you, I can't refuse you anything", he said to Axelle just before launching into a beautiful rendition of Bill Withers' Grandma's Hands with her. Axelle radiated, but wanted nothing for herself. On the contrary, her homage to her biggest idol Otis Redding (Hard To Handle) and the absent Isaac Hayes (Theme From Shaft) made that perfectly clear.

Just before the set list came to Car Wash, fashion conscious Axelle quick-changed into her second outfit, a long dress with a goatskin top leaving nothing to the imagination.. Time for Disco Soul. The blood red evening dress with a split down the side she kept back for the finale. We had an idea of what to expect when she announced it would be "the greatest voice tonight": Sam Moore, one half of the legendary Sam and Dave. And we weren't disappointed, it was amazing how he you could have heard a pin drop during I've Been Loving You Too Long and Hold On.

United in soul
Eddie Floyd followed up with Knock On Wood and waltzed fondly with Axelle during Never Found A Girl. Sam Moore looked tenderly at the star of the evening's swollen belly during Soul Sister Brown Sugar. As the ultimate homage to her gods, Axelle left the final musical word to Sam Moore, who bejewelled the evening's crown with Soul Man. In no way were a group of legendary, and one who one day will be legendary, singers not united in soul that night when Axelle joined her guests for the collective finale with Otis Redding's Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay.

In any other country this unique show would have been pre-sold to a TV channel and offered globally to the TV world. But in this demure non-chauvanist Belgium, nothing seems to be moving - and to think that we've got a world star here.
Het Volk — 16/11/98