The Minneapolis landmark is filled with Bridges’ retro sounds

By Jordan Rowan

Staff Writer

“I just want to know if y’all in Minneapolis got the juice?” Bridges asks a sold-out crowd at the Orpheum Theater on Sept. 28. The show was one of his last stops on his 2016 Fall Tour promoting his 2015 record “Coming Home” along with a few covers and new tunes.

Bridges is a pure showman. He attended college to study choreography and dance and it shows in his performance. He twists and shakes to the music that his tight and technically gifted band plays behind him. His music is all soul but his dancing is all funk. During the show, he even threw in the moonwalk and a few pirouettes.

Before Bridges played his breakthrough hit “Coming Home” he tells the crowd “I wrote this song without the promise of a record label or being on the big stage.” He has definitely gotten used to that stage.

Two new tracks made the set-list which included “Lonely Road” and “Hold On.” Both songs were mid-tempo soul crooners that the crowd adored. The highlight of the night was the only time Bridges picked up the guitar and played “River” accompanied only by organ and his backup singer Brittni Jessie. The lights turned white to make it feel like a real gospel choir when the whole crowd chimed in for the chorus.

The set ended with a long jam in which Bridges urged the crowd to “do its thing” while he did his. I don’t know whether Minneapolis has the juice, but Bridges certainly does.