Lloyd + Bluey Robinson @ Birmingham HMV Institute – 15th March 2012
Lloyd Polite Jnr aka Lloyd and his band were embarking on their first UK tour in the library at the HMV Institute Birmingham. The 26 year old with his fourth studio album “King Of Hearts” on the way is bringing back original R&B. With new single “Dedication to My Ex” Lloyd gained commercial success this year but with the hit single out and the loyal fan base the library was still only half full nevertheless this didn’t stop Lloyd and the evening turned out to be a groovy night.
Bluey Robinson was first on stage with his 30 minute set. Bluey paid tribute to the stars that had passed away this year and provided a flawless performance of “My Love Is Your Love” and an out of the blue rendition of “The Fresh Prince of Belair.” Robinson is a pop singer with serious soul. It wasn’t just the covers that were impressive, Bluey’s song writing skills also came into action with “Showgirl” (But the covers did help the set flow.) It’s not surprising that Bluey comes into his element in an acoustic environment as the videos of him singing in the London Underground received over 500,000 views.
After a long wait Lloyd appeared on stage to a rippling guitar solo thriving with energy and charisma Lloyd woke up the library with his smooth falsetto and soulful tunes. While Lloyd has the potential to be a R&B doctor there seemed to be a lot of album fillers on the set tonight. There wasn’t a dull moment however as the band jammed away Lloyld bounced around the stage. The song that everyone knew with mainstream success was earmarked by Lloyd to the very end keeping the audience in high anticipation and “Dedication To My Ex” was a show stopper. Lloyd too spoke about those who have passed away in recent years and gave an impressive performance of “Human Nature” then changed the vibe completely with “Lay It Down” and the audience favourite“Bed Rock.”
Lloyd isn’t just a singer as he was on the piano for “This Is My Baby” and guitar for “Angels” which was a nice touch, N-Toon (Lloyds first band) didn’t really take off but Lloyd is taking the R&B scene by storm. His album may have a lot of fillers but big names like R Kelly, Chris Brown and Lil Wayne are all on there. There is something special about Lloyd, he’s an excellent singer and performer and seduces the audience with his caressing voice and with his band behind him could easily pull off an arena. I do feel that Lloyd should of got someone else on tour with him just to add some variation to the night (if you see Lloyd in the summer he will be promoting his new album on Lil Wayne’s tour) but thats the same with most R&B music unless your R Kelly. A great night to see Lloyd at an intimate setting before he goes too mainstream.
Review – John Kirby
Photos – Alex Dean