Going into last Friday night, I had never seen London-based producer and songwriter SG Lewis perform before. His remix of “More Than a Woman” by the Bee Gees has been one of my songs of the summer and I had enjoyed many of his originals featuring some of my favorites like Clairo and Nile Rodgers.
When I caught his show Friday night at the Shrine Expo Hall, I honestly expected to see a guy on stage turning knobs with some cool visuals and maybe a couple singers. But SG Lewis had live instrumentation as he and a handful of others played a variety of instruments. It helped elevate an already great show.
SG Lewis (real name Sam Lewis) was playing in support of his awesome debut full-length record times — which dropped February via Virgin EMI and PMR Records. The new record featured collaborations with Rhye, Lucky Daye, Nile Rodgers, Frances, Robyn, and Channel Tres. He played seven songs from the record, and that included a drop-in by Lucky Daye for “Feed The Fire”.
In the middle of the set, he also brought out Aluna of AlunaGeorge (now thriving as a solo artist) for their 2018 song “Hurting”. The chorus on that one “slapped” as the kids say.
One thought that popped into my head during the show and accompanying fun but simple visual production is how I imagine this is what the future must be like in Bill and Ted’s World. Just such serene feeling and a crowd that was full of good vibes the whole way through.
The encore was an extended version of the “More Than a Woman” remix that really popped off earlier this summer. With the effort he puts into his music and live show, I expect him to continue playing bigger and bigger venues. And LA will always be special because of the many opportunities for surprise pop-ins.
Photos by Eric Han
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