Simply Sade – Bonnie Galea and the Boyz – Arkaba Hotel
Review: Sunday 21 /02/2021

Bonnie hit the stage in a gorgeous gold dress in bare feet, a tribute to Sade as that is how she liked to appear ala no shoes. Whilst this was not explained, a true fan would know as I did.

Bonnie went deep into the Sade catalogue in the nearly 1 hour and 40 minute show with a break in the middle. Some of the lesser known songs were lost on the nearly 200 person audience and it appeared that they held their strongest applause for the biggest hits.

There were 2 costume changes and she looked great in both. The band of brothers was made up of Steve Todd (drums and percussion) Quinton Dunne (Bass and vocals), Peter Raidel (Saxophone), Michael Rigby (Guitar) and Michael Bryant (Keyboards and vocals).
The band was certainly up to the task of playing this English style bass, guitar and drum centric music. There is a certain groove that is necessary and unforgiving in the material and they had it from start to finish.

Bonnie is one of those really hard working Adelaide singers that throws herself at everything she does and manages all aspects of her shows. Sade’s tone and feel are a big task and in some of the songs Bonnie’s nerves got the better of her. In the only ballad, she was emotional, had some tears but this only brought her more support from the crowd who applauded her sensitivity.

She seemed most comfortable singing the hits ‘When am I going to make a living,’ ‘Your love is King,’ ‘Smooth Operator,’ ‘Hang on to your love’ and my favourite Sade tune ‘Is it a Crime.’ The band took individual solos and Steve Todd showed the crowd why Sade’s management wanted him to actually audition for the international tour. Backup vocals from Quinton and Michael Bryant helped fill up the space and the crowd stayed until the end, dancing (yes there were under 200 people in the venue) to the reprise of Smooth Operator.

The show is too long for fringe and would be a much better one hour performance with some dialogue around Sade’s life added and less of the album tracks. The second half of the performance had a lot more energy and the audience became more engaged. It is clear that people want to see, hear and feel the music of Sade, Simply Sade just needs some more polish to have the ‘Diamond Life’ it deserves.

3.5 stars

Reviewer Stephen Foenander for Adelaide Review Team
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