City Arts Fest Local Spotlight: Allen Stone
courtesy facebook.com/allenstone
Next Wednesday October 26th Allen Stone will be performing live on Conan O'Brien. Allen has been getting attention for some time now, at least within the wide confines of Seattle and most probably far beyond that as well. He received quite a bit of clout lately with his album hitting in the top 100 of R&B sales on iTunes as well as being featured in the R&B section of the application. We had the chance recently to see his performance in Bellingham with Hot Bodies in Motion opening at Wild Buffalo. (As an aside, this is one fantastic venue and we can't wait to see another show there, but we digress.) His Bellingham show absolutely blew us away selling out the venue and getting the entire place swinging their hips within minutes.
Take one look at the guy and you may dismiss him. His big glasses, long wavy blond hair and quiet demeanor don't speak much to what actually takes place when he steps on stage. The man can sing. Raised as a preacher's son, singing with a message and great passion was ingrained in him at an early age. Moving away from gospel he found his comfort zone in R&B with the ability to weave in social messages without seeming too (pun intended) preachy. We are absolutely in love with his voice, music and backing band. He travels around with several musicians that give him the full blues-y sound without being overpowering. He fills a room even without them, but the entire band knocks you off your feet and before you know it your grin has turned to a full on ecstatic smile.
You can see him live this week at the Triple Door with Fly Moon Royalty as part of the City Arts Festival. You may want to catch his show now, not sure when he's going to be back in the city. This may be the last time you see Allen for a long while, after his appearance on Conan we're pretty sure he'll be getting offers and tour extensions for the foreseeable future.
City Arts - Thursday 20th at Triple Door // Doors 6:30pm, Show 8:00pm // tix $13, All Ages
Conan - Wednesday 26th at 11pm on TBS
