Music Journalism Live Concert Review Analysis Essay Example

of how she became a singer, from her roots singing gospel in churches as a child, progressing onto funk and soul by the 1970’s.

We also hear of the struggles she had in becoming recognized as a singer and how she spent many years working in a female prison, while also singing at various private functions. He then tells how she eventually got her big break, and how she become involved with the Dap-Kings in the mid 90’s. The reader is then educated of how, in the time of her relationship with the Dap-Kings they have managed to perform on numerous American chat shows and radio shows, and that they have performed on many different platforms around the world, collaborating with artists such as David Byrne, Lou Reed, Al Green and Mark Ronson.

The next paragraph is dedicated to the sound of the evening, and we get a comprehensive list of the instruments on hand and the impact that each one delivered to the performance. He manages to do this in a very catching manor, where you can almost hear the music in the room in which you are sitting. The writer then goes about saying that James Brown purists may find this show and sound “mere pastiche”, but quickly moves to applaud them for their dedication in the authenticity of the original funk and soul sound of the James Brown era.

There is a quick mention of the crowd and how impressive they were, especially the ladies, who dressed to impress and wore their hair teased as if ‘reminiscent of the 60’s’. The final content is a quote from Sharon during her performance “I feel like strutting.

I got something to strut about” , this really gives you a feel for the presence on stage that Sharon parades her funk & soul around. The article, whether you were already a fan or a newcomer, would have found this an enlightening and descriptive read, where the writer manages to provide you with enough information on Sharon and The Dap-KIngs , and a good depiction of the show itself.

The opening though, could have had a negative affect on the reader with the Amy Winehouse comparison, but he diverts away from this and puts the focus entirely on Sharon and the band. The demographic of the publication may have been put off by this due to the drugs and scandal which have blighted Amy’s career in the past. b) Structure : The review was in the culture section under music reviews of the Telegraph newspapers internet site, but does not tell you if it was in the actual printed version of the newspaper.

The review is made up of 481 words and broken up in to seven paragraphs which given the content seems like enough . The article is headed up by a one line introduction, followed by a star rating of the show, in which he rates at four stars. This however does not highlight out of how many stars he has rated this, but one would presume it was out of five. Underneath this is a large photograph followed by in small writing a quote from the piece “Exuberant swaggering funk”, and then tells us that Sharon Jones is in the photograph.

The introduction immediately grabs your attention with the Amy Winehouse reference which moves

you onto the next paragraph smoothly. He then moves back to the matter in hand and gives a good balance of content between the gig and her career, flowing back and forth between the two. The conclusion is a nice touch. He quotes Sharon from the performance and then leaves a final comment which seems to reflect his overall perception of the night and Sharon herself. c) Impact :

The Daily Telegraph printed version has a circulation of around 650,000 daily, and the online version has on average 1. 7 million daily visits. The amount of readers to this article is unknown. There is also no way of knowing if the piece was only produced online or not. The majority of the Telegraph readers will be of middle to higher age grouping, and from a middle to high class background. To put this into context, the average reader could be well ad versed with either the group or the genre, as they would have come from an era where funk and soul originated from.

The older reader may also not go to gigs as much anymore, but there is enough content to make it an interesting read and make them dream of when they were younger, and to hopefully persuade them into purchasing the album. The same positive affect could also go out to the younger generation of readers, due to the new wave of the funk scene around the world and the fact they are more likely to go to gigs still. Overall a well informed, constructive review which ultimately leaves the group positively glowing.