{"id":615,"date":"2023-10-13T13:05:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T13:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/?p=615"},"modified":"2023-12-19T15:39:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T15:39:45","slug":"sampha-satellite-business-concert-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/?p=615","title":{"rendered":"SAMPHA – ‘Satellite Business’ Concert Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sampha – ‘Satellite Business’ at Saint John at Hackney Church, London<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With a week to go before his highly anticipated sophomore album, ‘Lahai’, drops on 20th<\/sup> October, Sampha began a tour that will see him visit venues in North America and Europe with the first of three sold-out ‘Satellite Business’ shows in London. His debut album, ‘Process’, was released in 2017, and was met with incredible critical success. As one of my favourite alternative R&B projects to come out of the UK, ‘Process’ has remained a standout project for me. With my desire for more of his vocals being satiated by impeccable features on albums from artists like Kendrick Lamar, Stormzy and Mustafa, I have inevitably been swept up by the furore that comes with an impending Sampha release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining the queue at the entrance to Hackney Church, situated in north-east London, my excitement was raised astronomically as I took in the venue. In the centre of the hall, between the fantastic church organ and a stunning stained-glass window, there was a raised, circular platform. The enthusiastic crowd congregated around this stage, every individual discussing where the best view could be from. As it happens, Sampha’s stage presence and performance allowed those on all sides to have the “intimate” experience he told the audience he had aimed to achieve. It was almost impossible not to be taken aback by the spiritual setting and the phenomenal acoustics. Sampha made his way to the stage alongside his band of amazingly talented musicians, and the first leg of the artist’s tour had begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who attended this concert were treated to a heartfelt rendition of some of Sampha’s most popular songs from ‘Process’, as well as from his 2013 EP, ‘Dual’. In between such phenomenal hits as ‘Plastic 100o<\/sup>C’ and ‘Without’, the crowd were introduced for the very first time to many songs which have earned a place on ‘Lahai’. The artist treated his fans to nine tracks from the upcoming record, including the album’s lead single, ‘Spirit 2.0’, as well as his most recent release, ‘Only’. These acted as two highlights from my personal experience of the show. ‘Spirit 2.0’ allowed every individual musician on the sage to display their incredible talent, with a rapid and exciting drum pattern and beautiful bass line complemented by moments of melodic brilliance from the piano. Sampha’s fabulous vocals on this track are also accompanied by unique electronic sounds and beats; as all of these layers combined, the performance reminded me very much of the incredible musical textures that made ‘Process’ such a special project.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Stormzy joined Sampha on stage for an alternative version of ‘Only’.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The second of these tracks, ‘Only’, was incredible for a different reason. With the crowd having joined Sampha in singing the chorus at the top of their lungs, shock and euphoria filled the room as a heavyweight of the UK music scene, Stormzy, appeared seemingly out of nowhere and instantly made the stage his own. With Sampha’s vocals a prominent feature of Stormzy’s most recent album, ‘This Is What I Mean’, the hip-hop star returned the favour with a previously unheard version of the song’s second verse. Whether this is to be released as a remix of the original track is yet to be seen, but it certainly made for a fantastic moment for the jubilant crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the set, Sampha displayed every attribute that makes him such a renowned and sought-after talent. From the passionate and emotional ballad of ‘(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano’, to the dramatic closing song ‘Blood On Me’, every eye in the venue was glued to the performer as he moved elegantly across the stage before returning to his piano. One of the fascinating aspects of a ‘Satellite Business’ show is how exclusive the entire concert feels. An elongated version of ‘Can’t Get Close’ felt like it gave every musician the freedom and space to experiment and improvise, and the venue itself had certainly been selected to emphasise the intimacy the show had been designed to project. The chemistry between Sampha and his band had clearly been developed over a long period of time, making the show feel very special indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the level of experimentation evident in his previous releases and in the set design for this show, ‘Lahai’ promises to take the alternative style of ‘Process’ while being a fantastic project in its own right. With every new song being filled to the brim with moments that showcase Sampha’s outstanding vocal range while incorporating more soulful elements, this concert was a fantastic precursor to an album I expect to be one of 2023’s best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sampha – ‘Satellite Business’ at Saint John at Hackney Church, London With a week to go before his highly anticipated sophomore album, ‘Lahai’, drops on 20th October, Sampha began a tour that will see him visit venues in North America and Europe with the first of three sold-out ‘Satellite Business’ shows in London. His debut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[197,195,194,198,196,192,193],"class_list":["post-615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-concert","tag-hackney-church","tag-lahai","tag-london","tag-saint-john-at-hackney","tag-sampha","tag-satellite-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=615"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648,"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions\/648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jedvine.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}