|  | | | | | "LaVette was the brightest surprise of the festival" | | | "A dynamic singer, when she periodically dropped the microphone to howl a cappella, she got the lawn crowd halfway across the park to howl back." | | | | "Unlike the first three nights, temperatures bottomed to about 50 degrees Sunday, although the chill set the mood for sultry Detroit soul singer Bettye LaVette. As a teenager in the '60s, LaVette recorded for Atlantic Records, embarking on a career that ultimately won her a niche following in Europe. Too bad she's not as well-known here. LaVette was the brightest surprise of the festival. A dynamic singer, when she periodically dropped the microphone to howl a cappella, she got the lawn crowd halfway across the park to howl back. Her set's bright spot was "Like a Rock," transforming Bob Seger's macho Chevrolet jingle into a personal testimonial for spiritual individuality.
Mark Guarino,
Daily Herald Music Critic | |
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| | | "Bettye LaVette gamely performed in the Sunday chill as well. Backed by a six-piece band that included a horn section, Lavette sang in a raspy, sultry voice that resembled Tina Turner, filling her soul ballads with murmurs, growls and cries.
LaVette used her considerable technique to wrench every ounce of emotion from her songs, particularly as she lifted fellow Detroit native Bob Seger's "Like a Rock" out of truck-commercial hell and turned it into a soaring testimony to inner strength.
By comparison, Shemekia Copeland filled much of her headlining set on Saturday with the sort of pedestrian blues-rock found on Seger's lesser records, and all the energetic showmanship of her crowd-pleasing set couldn't make up for the shortcomings of her material.
Kevin McKeough,
Chicago Tribune |
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