JALEN NGONDA // SWG3, GLASGOW
JALEN NGONDA PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S SWG3
★★★★★ (5/5)
American born singer/songwriter Jalen Ngonda has been on my ‘to see’ list since the release of his 2023 album Come Around And Love Me, some of which I first heard being played by Jo Wylie, and I was so intrigued by it I bought the album.
Very much an old school soul singer in the style of Al Green or Marvin Gaye he tells stories in his songs in a beautiful voice while singing about all sorts of emotions, not just love.
I was therefore a little bit nervous whether he would be as good live as he is on record. I got there too late to see the support act as my accreditation came through quite late in the day but the first thing I noticed when I walked in was the staging, very classy, very much how I would imagine the 60’s soul icons would have set up their stages.
Jalen and the band strode out onto the stage and from pretty much the first bar it was obvious live was going to be even better than on record. He is a born entertainer with an amazing voice, his falsetto is a thing of wonder and his band and backing singers knew exactly what they were there to do which was deliver a soul music masterclass.
The crowd were heavily into it from the first second of the first song, responding well later in the set to Jalen’s request to make this Tuesday night in Glasgow feel like a Friday night. We were about three songs in before Jalen spoke but when he did it was with eloquence and passion. He is a man who clearly loves what he does and that shines through in his performances. He even felt brave enough to debut some new material, being clear that if it didn’t get a good response, it may not be new material for very much longer. He needn’t have worried, the new songs received as fervent a welcome as material from his 2018 debut EP and his debut album.
The whole evening slowly turned into one of the best live experiences I’ve had this year, with Jalen getting the crowd involved with taking a part of their own in one song and also taking some time to show off his prowess on the keys.
There was a slight delay between the main set and the encore due to a medical emergency in the crowd but once that was dealt with Jalen came back out and wowed the audience even further.
I obviously never got to see the soul greats at their peak, but Jalen Ngonda has picked up their baton and is leading the charge for quality soul music in this century. I’m hoping the new material debuted is going to form the basis of a new album, as this sold out show demonstrated there is an audience for what Jalen does and they are passionate about his music. It was a very mixed age audience which shows he has wide appeal. If you get the chance go see him, he is a proper soul man.