Actually it all her mother's fault, she and her large collection of soul records. Without a swinging mother, Axelle Red would never have been bitten by the black music microbe. And she certainly would never have come up with the idea to invite a load of soul artists to pay homage to them via a large-scale concert. No wonder that Axelle first thanked her mother at last Saturday's concert in a sold out Sportpaleis in Antwerp. On paper The Soul Of Axelle Red was already quite a stunt, but live it turned out to be an amazing spectacle with artists who breathed new life into thirty years of music history. The pale red-headed singer did her very best to keep up her end of the show in between all that impassioned black soulstry. And what's more, she did, and in style.

The soul of Axelle Red
Stax, Motown, Atlantic, Hi records… Resounding names from the history of black music. Record labels which were home to such 60's and 70's stars as Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Al Green and The Four Tops. It was records of artists like these that the diminutive Axelle Red took from her mother's record rack and armed with a broom as microphone, sang her heart out in front of the mirror.

Since then she's recorded two hit albums, the last one, A tatons, recorded with the cream of the Memphis and Nashville soul musicians. It was time to repay her dues, to let her fans taste some of the magic of black music.

It was a little chaotic at the beginning - one of the main acts, Isaac Hayes, couldn't make it, and nobody seemed to know where Mavis Staples and Carla Thomas were. So it fell to Wilson Pickett to fill the first half hour slot. Unfortunately not only was he the only artist who insisted on coming with his own band, he was also the only one who had come with the idea of doing his thing and to hell with the rest of the show. A mistake, because the man who was announced as the writer of hits such as Mustang Sally and Land of a Thousand Dances managed to ignore these soul classics and replaced them with less well-known songs, or should one say, shadows of songs. Pickett's voice, sounding like a raw death rattle, was still there, but he only used it for rather annoying games with the audience. The support act, or how a living legend ensured that the show got off to a non-start.

But all was not lost, because once the curtain rose for the second half, the party really began in earnest. The stage now played host to a large orchestra which were to back all the other artists. Gone were the embarrassing pauses, as we had after Pickett's gig, instead they were replaced by a whirling succession of funky grooves, warm and throaty backing vocals and many much-loved soul classics.

Champagne
Let's take time out for a closer look at the orchestra, something which Axelle Red also did when, as proud as a peacock, she introduced each and every musician in her own time. Perhaps, all in all, this was the real stunt she pulled, not the star studded bill, but getting together these top musicians on one stage to back them. People who, if they hadn't invented soul, were certainly sitting in the front row at its birth. Lester Snell, arranger and keyboard player, the man behind so many soul hits, those of Isaac Hayes to name but a few, was the musical director. Both the drummer and the two guitarists were from Isaac Hayes' band too. The four piece brass section included two members of the Memphis Horns, the legendary name found on all of Al Green's hits and later heard blowing up a storm on albums of Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. The fifteen strong string section even boasted a Belgian contingent who infused some magic to the slower numbers.

A fairy tale orchestra, and it was basically thanks to them that Percy Sledge forgot the routine of his When a man loves a woman when half way through it he got down on his knees and let the passion flow out onto the stage. And that Ann Peebles was able to make an overplayed and covered song like I can't stand the rain swing like it's never swung before must also be down to this great orchestra.

Another high point: Eddie Floyd, who with the raunchy Knock on Wood had the entire crowd on their feet to the man. Not an easy job either. The Antwerp 'bunker' was not crammed to overflowing with thousands of soul brothers, longing for their soul food, but with a somewhat older, mature audience, some of them seated on the ground stage centre around some dozen tables sipping champagne, rather like at a wedding party. This didn't make life any easier for the artists who, time after time, had their work cut out to get them off their chairs and into their dancing shoes, and some had it more difficult than others.

One artists who had no trouble at all was Sam Moore, the other half of the former hit duo, Sam and Dave. He seemed to know every trick in the book of the poure soul man: a voice which both soothes and excites, has unparalleled charisma, and a body which seemed to work on electricity. Another great moment was when the blind preacher Clarence Carter, the least know name on the bill, took the stage. He taught the audience during Slip Away that soul music isn't necessarily party music but can also be the soundtrack to deepest despair. A couple of people down front even choked on their champagne.

Love
And Axelle Red? She contented herself to remain in the background, a sort of master of ceremonies for all the artists who joined her on stage. It was only during the second half of the concert that she got behind the microphone more often, duetting with Sam Moore and Eddie Floyd among others, always in the company of another welcome guest; her six month old prodigy nestling in her belly. She dedicated Bill Withers' Just the two of us to the child: a beautiful moment in the evening.

Axelle was conspicuous in how calm she remained all evening. All things considered, she kept her cool admirably, even when she wove English, French and even Spanish into some of her own songs. And what if she isn't blessed with the same smouldering fervour in her voice as the artists who shared the stage with her, that wasn't what the evening was all about. What was apparent was that she in no way was an also ran: with her power of persuasion and her love of music she was up there where she belonged with the rest of them.

It's for that reason that The soul of Axelle Red reminded us of the special atmosphere of the soul revues of the 60's and 70's when black artists used to criss-cross the world. And that's why we're willing to bet that whatever hits and sold out concerts the future has in store for her, Axelle Red will always remember that Saturday in the Antwerp Sportpaleis. Perhaps at that moment in time the child in her belly will itself be standing in front of a mirror singing, or picking a guitar, who knows… but should it ask: Mother, was there ever a moment in your life when you were on stage and you looked around you and asked yourself, "is this for real or am I dreaming?", we'll all know the answer - it wasn't a dream, and she shared it with us.
Het Nieuwsblad — 16/11/98