Entertainment
Soultown Festival 2022 goes out with a bang as Gabrielle, Heather Small and Soul II Soul delight fans with their biggest hits-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
Over and out!
Soultown returned once again, bringing the soul to Beckenham (Picture: Supplied)
Soultown festival 2022 is done and dusted but it’s certainly not one we’ll forget in a hurry.
The event aims to ‘bring together the biggest soul, Motown, disco, funk, and house acts from across the globe’, and that’s exactly what it did once again with performances from over 50 artists.
Big names including Gabrielle, Heather Small, Lemar, and Soul II Soul graced the stage on September 3 and 4, as the South East’s biggest Motown and soul festival returned to Beckenham, Kent.
Metro.co.uk caught up with some of the performers at the festival, firstly with Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B spilling the beans on his dream collaboration and his favourite song to perform.
The musician shared that, while he’d love to work with Grace Jones, he has, in fact, ticked his dream collaboration off his list already after duetting with Isaac Hayes, who died in 2008.
‘We did a duet of Papa Was a Rolling Stone for a French television company’, he said, adding that his nickname for Hayes was Moses after being inspired by the late star’s album.
Another year over, but it’s not one anyone will forget in a hurry (Picture: Supplied)
His favourite song to perform, meanwhile, is ‘probably Jazzie’s Groove’ but he is constantly ‘inundated with requests for Get a Life’, which was a real crowd pleaser at Soultown this year.
Metro.co.uk also had the pleasure of speaking to Proud hitmaker Heather, who is practically bursting to collaborate with Missy Elliot – and that’s a duet we need to happen.
‘I think she’s a genius. She is so good at what she does. You only have to listen to Lady Marmalade, it’s four very different singers, but she’s put it together and made it sound so cohesive and so together, but still able to keep that individuality. I think she’s got a real soulful genius, expertise.’
Gabrielle belted out her hits at this year’s festival (Picture: Supplied)
The 90s icon well and truly put on a show (Picture: Supplied)
‘Girl, I’m ready any time’, she declared, and Heather, so are we.
The How Can I Love You More? songstress also spoke about Black history, highlighting the importance of learning about Black history from around the world after feeling like ‘African people were not included or recognised in a positive way’ in her own education growing up.
‘If I’d known all that, then this whole thing of being less wouldn’t have applied. I didn’t think I was less, but others wouldn’t have thought that I was less because my heritage was from the African continent.’
With performances from the likes of Soul II Soul and Heather Small, there was something for everyone (Picture: Supplied)
Soultown is the Southeast’s biggest Motown and soul festival (Picture: Supplied)
But when quizzed on her favourite song to perform, the music icon struggled for an answer, noting that it was ‘hard’ as it feels like being asked ‘what’s your favourite child?’
‘I just love it. I’ve just finished my performance and any song that gets a loving response is my favourite. I did six songs and they’re all my favourite songs because everybody was brilliant.
‘I’ve been singing them for a long time so there’s so much love for them.’
There was plenty of food and drink also keeping ticket holders satisfied (Picture: Supplied)
Soultown saw over 50 acts grace the stage for a weekend of spectacular performances (Picture: Supplied)
Elsewhere at Soultown 2022, 90s icon Gabrielle put on a spectacular show to a crowd of revellers, bringing out all the lights and confetti as fans belted out her tunes with her.
As well as good music, there was plenty of good food at Soultown this year, with more than 30 food stalls and pop-up bars on hand to keep ticket holders satisfied and hydrated before dancing the night away.
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This year’s event also had fairground attractions, live steel bands, face painting, stalls to browse, and other entertainment outside of the main stage, so there really was something for everyone.
Amongst the 50 acts performing were Fat Back Band, Kenny Thomas, Evelyn Champagne King, The Dualers, Janet Kay, The Marley Experience, Shola Ama, Alison Limerick, CJ Macintosh, Brandon Block, The Garden Party, Clockwork Orange, Ray Lewis from The Drifters, Fil Straughan, The Arg Band, No Artificial Colours, Page Twins and more.
Roll on 2023!
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