Last night's Raphael Saadiq show was pretty amazing, truth be told. His band sounded great, covering hits by The Fifth Dimension, as well as spanning most of Saadiq's career. The crowd loved every second of it. It really was the type of show that people who weren't there should have made excuses to themselves for missing the show that was captivating nearly every second Saadiq was on stage.

Fortunately, the excellent photographer Jason Tang was on hand to capture the show with his SLR. Below are a few of my favorite photos of Saadiq and opener Anjulie:

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In the days and weeks after Bumbershoot, the question of "who was the best act you saw [during the three day festival over Labor Day weekend]?" came up often and my answer was always Raphael Saadiq. The soul singer's two sets I saw (one being in the KEXP music lounge) were incredible to watch. He was backed by a tight (and sharply dressed) band playing some of the most irresistable funk and soul you're likely to here. He sounded sincere both when singing in lust like during "Let's Take a Walk" and paying tribute to victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

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I asked both brilliant and talented photographers Erik Clineschmidt and Jason Tang to list their five favorite Bumbershoot photos. Jason offered these as his favorites. - ChrisB.

Head Like a Kite:

"I almost didn't go to this one because Metric was playing 15 minutes after [their set began].  I'm so glad I did, even if it was for one song!"

Carly Nicklaus of USE:

"They totally killed it!  So much energy and a lot of fun to shoot."

Janelle Monae:

"Karma, I tell you. [When security stopped] letting anyone else in to the Metric KEXP lounge show, I figured I might as well kill some time and catch Janelle at the Fisher Green Stage.  Boy, was I in for a big surprise!"

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Update: I took down my crappy cell phone photo of Raphael Saadiq because superstar photographer Jason Tang just uploaded an awesome one.

So... How's Bumbershoot for you all?

For day two, I had a busy day, running from show to show. My schedule put me from The Kindness Kind to Spencer Moody's literary program, The Enablers Have Spoken, to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs to USE to Raphael Saadiq in the KEXP lounge to Sleepy Eyes of Death to my apartment for a brief break and back to Bumbershoot for Raphael Saadiq again.

I enjoyed everything I went to, but seeing Raphael Saadiq twice was the definite highlight. In the KEXP Lounge, he and his full band was in uniform, in suits looking sharp for a radio appearance. Both sets were full of Motown-era soul backed by a tight and funky band (two backup singers, a trumpet, saxophone, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards). He is such a charismatic performer that you believe all of the love the audience had for him was mutual. He played for ninety minutes, including two encores, because the crowd didn't want to let him leave. My favorite thing he said (actually, I think he said it both at the KEXP Lounge and on the Fisher Green Stage) was that he wrote his song "The Big Easy" as a tribute to Hurricane Katrina victims and said that the people of New Orleans like to party when they mourn.

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Raphael Saadiq's last show in Seattle was a sold out affair at the Showbox, but he had mostly traveled under my radar. I was curious to learn more about him because people were asking me if I could get them into the show (I couldn't, not that I tried). After a few minutes of cursory research, it was easy to see why so many of my friends were smitten.

Saadiq is a soul singer who is not lacking in sex appeal. He first began his music career as the lead singer and bassist for the R&B trio Tony! Toni! Tone'! (whose work I was familiar with from my teenage years), when he was known as Raphael Wiggins. He began his solo career in 2002 and his debut album, Instant Vintage, was nominated for five Grammy awards. His most recent album, The Way I See It, was named Album of the Year by the staff at iTunes and was nominated for a Best R&B Album Grammy. It also has names showing up in the credits like Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder and Joss Stone.

My favorite song of his is "Let's Take a Walk", which would sound like it belongs on the radio in between The Temptations and The Four Tops, if the lyrics weren't so sexual. That's definitely the vibe that Saadiq is going for, as it's confirmed by the video below.

{Raphael Saadiq plays Bumbershoot on Sunday, September 6 at 9:30pm on the Fisher Green Stage.}

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