I was so excited about seeing Daley Headlining his own tour at last! I first came across him when I saw him perform with Wretch 32 on 'Later... with Jools Holland'. He looked intriguing in a long black jacket, thick rimmed glasses and fantastically coiffured hair, but the thing that got me was his voice- he sounded amazing- I had to hear more! I You Tubed just a couple of performances but that was enough- this guy had me, hook, line and sinker. Daley has a smooth soulful voice with a killer falsetto! I downloaded his EP 'Those Who Wait' and it was everything, I didn't even know I wanted to hear from a new R&B album. My top three stand out tracks are:
The title track, 'Those Who Wait': A coming of age/coming of music song with a nostalgic kind of laid back groove.
'Game Over': A "player" in love promises his new love that he has quit the "Game". The song has a cool, catchy, summer vibe.
'Spent'- This is a musically stripped down song that uses a money metaphor to detail the wake of turmoil left by a failed relationship.
Loving Daley's EP, as I do, I decided to go to a few shows where he was either a featured artist or a support act. I found that after each performance I wanted to see more- do people still shout 'Encore'? Because I REALLY wanted to at times! So, you can see why when I found out about the 'Those Who Wait' Tour I was more than overly excited!
The Jazz Cafe was the perfect venue to play this sold out gig and Daley was on top vocal form. He sang most songs off the EP, plus three songs taken from his forthcoming debut album. There were also a couple of surprise treats too: He gave Usher's 'Climax' the Daley treatment and he did his version of Madonna's 'Like a Virgin' to raucous applause from the crowd, who, (like me), I suspect, believe that this is the best version of the song. He also, interluded his own song, 'Game Over' with Rufus ft Chaka Khan's 'Sweet Thing'- and this was indeed, a very sweet thing! He ended his set with 'Alone Together', which is fast becoming a classic among Daley fans. It was one of those "lighters in the air moments", although, with the smoking ban in force, I believe that the use of lighters indoors is also prohibited- but you catch my meaning. It was the perfect way to end the show- Daley left me and the rest of the crowd wanting more, (yet again). But I think this is how it should be, artists should leave their audiences fulfilled yet still wanting more!
Daley's endearing personality gives him effortless charm and a quiet showmanship. The audience connected really well to the performance: constantly clapping along, mouthing the words to all the songs and whooping and hollering their delight at virtually every note he sang. It was clear that Daley was preaching to the converted, I doubt there was a person in there who didn't already love him- but if there was, I'm sure they do now!
Some say that R&B is dead. But I think that the David Guetta era of R&B is moving on. People are growing tired of feeling like they want to do a gym workout to every song that comes on the radio. Don't get me wrong, I will happily admit to enjoying a bit of Euro-pop-infused R&B every now and again... Granted, it's usually when I'm on a treadmill, but hey...! Daley's music nods to classic R&B while offering something new and I'm excited about that- can you tell?!
Check out the vids below! You can download Daley's EP, 'Those Who Wait' at www. daley.tv
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