Leon Bridges serenades the crowd at the Ascend Amphitheatre

Leon Bridges is a Fort Worth native who rose to fame in 2014 with his debut album, Coming Home. The songs from that album are soulful and nostalgic with a notable influence from soul legend Sam Cooke present. The album became number 6 on Billboard’s top 200 chart and also got him a Grammy nomination for best R&B album of the year.

Bridges is currently touring the United States to promote his sophomore album Good Thing which came out May 4, 2018. This album strays further from the classic 60’s sound of his debut and features a more modern R&B sound. It is as if the singer wanted to pay homage to his idols on his debut and now on his second album, he is ready to prove his own musical style while still borrowing some of the key elements from his previous album.  

The show in Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheatre was supported by special guest Masego. Masego’s opening set was a mix of hip-hop with R&B where he would rap and sing and occasionally play a solo on the saxophone as he was backed by a bass player and a DJ. It is usually hard for an opening act to draw the crowd’s attention but Masego managed to do it effortlessly with his jokes and music.

By the time that Bridges got on stage, the venue was already packed. He opened his set with “If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be), a song from his new record. The set was very dynamic as he kept alternating between modern R&B in which he had people standing up and dancing and old-school soul ballads where he crooned the audience as they sang back to him. The singer was very energetic and did not take a break until before the encore. When he came back for the encore he came out with just his backup singer and proceeded to play a stripped-down rendition of one of his most popular songs “River”.

This show was proof of the high musicianship and performance skills that Leon Bridges has because even though the audience came in with high expectations he managed to exceed them.

Coverage by Jorge Sierra

Images provided by Columbia Records

For upcoming events and artists features, follow SoundBite Magazine on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. If you would like to be feature your event, art, music, or company on SoundBite Magazine, please contact soundbitemag@gmail.com for features and promotional inquiries.