After years to quietly get out of the central music worthy of the scene, but avoiding the spotlight, the singer-songwriter British Cleo Sol made his long-awaited debut on Friday evening at the Hollywood Bowl. The concert took place only a few days after playing in the United States for the first time during a three-show race at the New York Radio City Hall.
The energy inside the amphitheater with closed counters of 17,000 and closed counters was palpable as participants, new and old, understood two things: it was a rare opportunity to attend the prolific of the R&B singer happened, and that her deeply healed music was going to move them emotionally and spiritually. (Before the start of the show, several people in the crowd near me said they were ready to cry – and me too.)
Supported by a group of 11 members comprising five background singers – who all had distinctable tones and had the impression of having been sorted on the shutter by Cleo Sol herself – she opened the show at 9 pm with the “Rewind” introspective of “Rose in the Dark” of 2020, before sinking effortless into the next piece of the project, “Rose in the Dark”. “”
Dressed in a silk dress with golden tones, Cleo Sol smiled brightly and danced in a fun way on the stage while it crossed other favorites of fans of “Rose in the Dark”, including the attractive and jazzy “When I'm in your arms”, romantic “Sideways”, the desire “I Love You” and encouraging “Young Love”. Without the help of a rear track, her moving and silky voice carried in the large site while she laughed and showed her impressive vocal range. Between the songs, she sipped a drink filled with electrolyte, which she joked to help her cross the night.
Cleo Sol, who is also the main singer of the equally elusive collective of the United Kingdom, Sault, could have easily plunged into their robust catalog – which extends over 11 studio albums and two EPs – during the Friday evening set. Instead, she chose to stick to her solo offers, drawing from the “mother” of 2021 and her 2023 frees “Heaven” and “Gold”, which arrived two weeks apart. (She shouted to her husband, inflo – her producer and the brain behind Sault – which was present.)
During her song “Heart Full of Love”, which she devoted to her son, Cleo Sol joined her substantive singers and sat on a stool. As they sang the lyrics, “thank you for sending me an angel directly from the sky / When my hope had gone, you made me hard”, the crowd turned on the place while holding their mobile phones in the air and swinging from one side to the other. “It makes me emotional, I'm going to cry,” she told the public. “It looks beautiful according to here.”
More than half of the show of almost two hours, Cleo Sol briefly left the altar and resurfaced in the stands, towards the middle of the room to sing “Know that you are loved”. She interpreted the deeply affirmative piece which resembles both a mantra and a lullaby in the same way that she did during her Viral Royal Albert Hall Show in 2023 – get closer to your fans, touch your hands and sing directly to them. His tender vocal performance looked like a gigantic embrace of a loved one.
She then returned to the stage to interpret the powerful “Life Will Be”, which looked like a perfect end, before running again to sing an electrifying reminder of “why not you” from her project “Rose in the Dark”.
“Ok, one more!” she said laughing.
Like its R&B predecessors, Sade and d'Angelo, which are also known to be reclusive and trace their own territory, the performance of Cleo Sol has proven that when you really like what you do and that music comes first, you don't have to play in the endless rats of the industry. Cleo Sol follows the divine timing of his life and does what suits him, which has borne fruit in the long term. She testifies to the fact that although fans do not want to expect new music or see her perform live, they will show off with enthusiasm for her each time she is ready.
