- Music
- 02 Dec 19
The venue for Lee Fields & The Expressions gig on 18 January 2020 has been moved from Vicar Street to the Button Factory. Tickets are on sale now.
Lee Fields & The Expressions with support from Dublin's Uly will now take place in Dublin’s Button Factory, Saturday 18th January 2020. The gig was originally set to take place at Vicar Street. Tickets from €30.00 are on sale now here.
Fields has been churning out brilliant soul music ever since the '60s when he was a teenager in North Carolina sweating it out on juke joint stages, crumpled dollars hailing at his feet. It continues now that the living legend is in his late sixties, ushering in the most successful and fruitful period of his career.
"It's the yearning in that lived-in voice that carries the whole enterprise," wrote Hot Press's Pat Carty in his review of Fields' latest album with The Expressions, It Rains Love. "There's no doubting that our man means what he says. And that applies to the whole of this record. Hats off and fair play."
Like any living legend worth their salt, Fields has suffered despair, obscurity, defeat. Although he now tours stages around the world, and although he helped fellow soul legends like Sharon Jones (who was once Fields' backup singer) and Charles Bradley (whom Fields took on his first tour) get their first break, he did not always have this position. There were years – they were known as "the '80s" – when Fields nearly gave up. His success these days, then has a bittersweet tinge: His dear friends Bradley and Jones have both passed, leaving Fields to outlive them and carry their legacy forth.
Lee stands at the forefront of the soul revival, a bustling and ever-growing corner establishing itself amongst the dominance of 21st-century genres. Lee Fields' music has been chopped up and sampled by hip hop artists as diverse as J. Cole and Travis Scott: Cole, Fields laughs, thought that the sample was taken from a song "from back in the day."
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Ironically, J. Cole sampled 'My World Is Empty Without You' and 'Ladies', which were both from Fields' album My World, which was released only in 2009.
Support for Lee Fields & The Expressions at the Button Factory comes from Uly – real name Rafino M.J. Murphy – who is an astrophysics graduate-turned musician and multi-instrumentalist. Currently, Uly is a part of many burgeoning acts based around Dublin to suit all musical tastes (INNRSPACE, Nealo, DAVIIS) while also lending his ear as a producer for others (Native Ensemble/Adam Garrett, Evan Carmody, Nealo).
Tickets are available here for Lee Fields & The Expressions at the Button Factory.