11 Borough High Street
London,
SE1 9SE


Promised a night of top quality live soul music, I was interested to see what the Soul City had to offer. Being the second event in the series of showcases I must say that I was not quite sure what exactly to expect... I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the standard of the artists as well as the DJ who kept us young soul rebels entertained between the sets.

The Hidden Julep is tucked away, it's not called 'Hidden' without reason; down a set of stairs on the corner of Borough High Street, next to a caf. or was it a chip shop? Anyway, once inside I was shown to the 'Crumbs for Men' table and ordered a glass of wine, settled back, waiting for the show to begin. The first act to perform, Yolande, gave a great performance of Knarls Barkley's 'Crazy' sung with only her acoustic guitar as accompaniment.

The highlights of the evening had to be Tone Richardson and Nadine Charles, Charles (pictured above) seemed to have drawn in a lot of fans; as soon she took her seat on the stool, centre stage, all the males in the room inched closer (at that point a made a mental note to book a few singing lessons). Her rendition of Dwele's "Open Your Eyes" would have made the man himself very proud as she captivated the audience with her light vocals, and talented band.

All in all, the Soul Cafe at the Hidden Julep was great fun; it proves that the UK has a wealth of talent waiting to be discovered. If you happen to be in the London Bridge area on the 26th November, be sure to stop by.

Written by Christy Black