Written and Photographed by Casey Carlson
You don’t hear the term “revue” used much for shows these days. In its heyday, a revue typically consisted of song, dance, and a theatrical performance, All of which were present for the Secret Stash Soul Revue at the Fitzgerald Theater. Sonny Knight & the Lakers entered the stage at 8:00 to a packed house, and launched into a few numbers that will be present on their next record, currently being recorded at the Secret Stash Studio in Minneapolis. The Current’s Mark Wheat took to the stage to emcee the event after Sonny’s set, Introducing a few of his friends who are already well established artists in the Twin Cities community. First up was Molly Maher, known as a friend of Trampled By Turtles as well as her own band, Molly Maher & Her Disbelievers. With The Lakers acting as the house band, Molly commanded the stage withher set, including a Willie Nelson cover. Next up was Cameron Kinghorn, A Trumpeter of many brass bands in the area, as well as a frontman for Nooky Jones. Although no trumpet was found in Cameron’s hands on stage, he brought the house down with his unique voice, and a set packed with high energy tunes. Neo-Soul singer PaviElle tookover the stage afterwards and stunned the audience with her set of songs, throwing it back to the era of mid-sixties soul while drawing influence from the great Aretha Franklin, beforestrutting off stage and drawing the curtain to end the first set of the night.
After a short intermission, the curtain rose to reveal Jayanthi Kyle, most recently known for her part in Gospel Machine. She was backed by James Greer and Company, who have worked with everyone from Josh Groban to Mariah Carey while achieving several awards along the way. together they clapped and lead the audience in a modern day chant, giving the crowd a chance to sing along to the incredible music that was being played. Jayanthi’s set was riveting, including backup from the Lakers as well as a few dancers who incorporated many classic dance moves into Jayanthi’s final number of the night. Each artist performed a few more songs before Sonny Knight triumphantly returned to the stage to close out the evening with his band. For the final number, Sonny invited all of his friends on stage for a powerful rendition of Sam Cooke’s Bring it on home to me. afterwards, Mark Wheat returned to the stage to thank the enormous crowd. “Shall we do this again sometime?” he had asked. The audience cheered without hesitation.
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