With a heavy rain coming down just before set time, the covered tent of the Zilker stage suddenly became the most popular real estate in the park just as Lee Fields & the Expressions took the stage. The North Carolina soul man made the most of it, treating a massive crowd to the deepest cuts off recent LP Faithful Man and 2009’s My World. The sublime summertime groove of “Ladies” went out to all the short ones, tall ones, big ones, small ones before Fields remembered his father on wrenching ballad “Wish You Were Here.” “Now it’s time to get back into the business of the funk,” he said introducing “Money I$ King.” And with that, the man who first cut a cover of James Brown’s “Bewildered” in 1969 showed off an array of dance moves nicked from the Godfather as his sixpiece backing band laid down a thundering groove. Culled from the talented and largely interchangeable parts that make up the Budos Band, El Michels Affair, and Menahan Street Band, these Expressions were a different crew than the one that backed Fields at South by Southwest. The result – a masterful set of old school R&B, and a bunch of new fans – was the same.
This article appears in October 19 • 2012.
