St. Paul and the Broken Bones
Words: Sean Moore / Photos: Kenneth Coles
St. Paul and the Broken Bones do not want you to think of them as simply a southern soul band, but rather as a soulful experience that could be described as a religious experience. The eight-piece band rolled into Portland Thursday night for a rescheduled show that was supposed to happen in early June at Thompson’s Point. Given the late-October date of this show, it was moved to the State Theatre.
The added anticipation meant everyone who showed up came to have a party, whether they had purchased tickets for the original outdoor venue or waited until this October date to get a ticket. The place was packed from the crowded floor to the orchestra and balcony seats. As soon as the band hit the stage there was no one sitting down for the entirety of the band’s 90+ minutes set. Absolutely no one left the building disappointed on Thursday night. I saw so many happy faces, hands raised in praise and adulation, as well as dancing. So much dancing.
The horns section trotted out on stage first and hit the crowd with some notes while the rest of the band made their way on stage and joined in for a tune that was aptly titled “Intro,” an instrumental introduction and perhaps a way to get the crowd amped up for a wild ride of soul music that sounded incredibly loud and tight when all eight band members contribute their specific element. About halfway through the set, singer and bandleader Saint Paul, left the stage and gave the band an opportunity to impress the crowd even further with another “instrumental” interlude, not meant as an intermission but more as a showcase of the band’s talent and prowess.
The leader of the band, Paul Janeway, has one of those soulful falsetto voices that could quite possibly lift you up off your seat and blow your mind, leaving you slack-jawed in amazement that the volume and range in which Janeway’s vocals reached. Paul was wearing a sparkling sequined cape that brought to mind something out of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The cape whirled around and behind him as he strolled across the stage while singing some of the bands best tunes like “Flow With It (You Got Me Feeling Like)” and “All I Ever Wonder,” the latter of which had the crowd bouncing and scream-singing along. A couple of my favorites, though, were “Mr. Invisible” and “GotItBad.”
The Patron Saint of Soul, Paul Janeway, sings with such force and passion that it carried through the entire building in almost an unnatural way. His talent is ridiculous, in the most positive sense of the word. When he sings, his voice demands your full attention. It felt like witnessing a church revival where the entire audience’s musical souls where awakened.
The band has been steadily touring behind 2018’s album Young Sick Camellia, which the Portland crowd was definitely enjoying, especially “Apollo” and the set ending “Bruised Fruit.” The crowd cheered and shook the floor with stomping feet, demanding an encore, which St. Paul and the Broken Bones happily delivered. “Controversy” led off the encore with a rapid and pop-infused fast-paced speed. “Call Me” from the band’s debut album Half the City has amassed over 22 million streams on Spotify and was the song that got the crowd wildly excited before Janeway closed out the night by introducing the band and playing “Broken Bones and Pocket Change.” At one point in the encore, St. Paul became so enraptured with the band’s energy that he proceeded to collapse to the stage floor and wrap himself within the afghan rug that was there. Perhaps a part of the live show schtick that he has developed over the months, Paul continued to sing while covered by the rug, before emerging from its depths to finish the song off. I have to say, witnessing this was a first for me.
This is a band I insist you see live the next time they come around. This is band that loves being a part of the neo-soul revival that seems to be taking place over the past few years. They are going places and they are not afraid to take you there with them.
