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Raphael Saadiq performs at Theater of the Living Arts

The soul era of the '60s was transformed and made exquisitely new courtesy of Raphael Saadiq on Friday night with a show at the Theater of the Living Arts that gave the multigenerational crowd a huge helping of the instant vintage sound that has pushed his 2008 album, The Way I See It, into classic territory.

    by Tanisha L. Alston, For The Inquirer
    Published 

The soul era of the '60s was transformed and made exquisitely new courtesy of Raphael Saadiq on Friday night with a show at the Theater of the Living Arts that gave the multigenerational crowd a huge helping of the instant vintage sound that has pushed his 2008 album,

The Way I See It

, into classic territory.

As a Grammy-winning producer, the Oakland native already possessed a fondness for flipping musical genres and giving old-school sounds a modern rhythm-and-blues twist. Sons of Soul and House of Music, two discs from his former group, Tony! Toni! Toné!, were a blueprint for the retro sounds he recaptured for later artists such as D'Angelo, Joss Stone, and John Legend.

Saadiq brought a fabulous four-piece band with him that evoked the sound and look of a classic Motown act. Once he emerged, Saadiq looked as if he had stepped out of the young Marvin Gaye's closet, resplendent in a yellow sharkskin suit and black-framed glasses.

Shortly into his 15-song set, he joined his duo of high-energy backup singers for an invigorated, slowed-down version of "Keep Marchin'." "Love That Girl" and the horn-heavy "100 Yard Dash," with tight Temptations-inspired choreography and soul claps, had the audience bopping and singing along to Saadiq's tender falsetto.

Conjuring up a groove reminiscent of the Stylistics' sound, Saadiq and his background singers brought his emotion-filled "Oh Girl" (not the Chi-Lites' song) to life with harmonies that would make Russell Thompkins Jr. proud. The biggest response of the evening came during Saadiq's medley of Tony! Toni! Toné! hits: "(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow," "It Never Rains in Southern California," and "Anniversary."

Saadiq exposed his musical chops during the encore by picking up the electric bass for an extended version of "Skyy, Can You Feel Me." He rounded out the evening with the energetic "Big Easy," his ode to post-Katrina New Orleans. At the end of the night, Saadiq and the audience seemed to be on the same page - he wanted to give more and they wanted more.