When Stern Grove Festival revealed its annual slate of free Sunday afternoon matinee concerts for summer 2024, many in the Bay Area swiftly circled the final date on the schedule: August 25th. The Stern Grove season-ending booking boasted a delicious double bill featuring a pair of decorated icons in their respective musical universes: “The Queen of Funk” Chaka Khan, and foundational U.K. reggae stalwart Steel Pulse. With a century of Grammy-winning records and pioneering performances between them, the stage was set for a magical midday soiree in the wondrous woods of Stern Grove.
Stern Grove Festival Association is a nonprofit cultural organization that promotes diverse performing arts by offering admission-free access to all citizens of the Bay Area. The organization has presented its Stern Grove Festival annually since 1938, in San Francisco’s stunning Sigmund Stern Grove. Concerts are hosted in a eucalyptus-wooded natural outdoor amphitheater bowl, situated below sea level and shielded from cold winds and fog, tucked into the forest off 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard in the Parkside District.
A quote on the Stern Grove Festival website breaks down its consistently successful modus operandi: “All of our concerts are funded by individual donors, sponsors, and organizations so you can trust that 100% of your donation goes directly to funding our Festival. We raise nearly $4M every year so we can continue to support our community, staff, and musicians by paying fair and equitable rates.”
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When we arrived two hours before doors opened at noon and three before showtime, the lines to both entrances already snaked deep into the adjacent neighborhood. Thousands of people queued up with all sorts of picnics, blankets, chairs, and such, ready to close out a tremendous ten-week run through summer 2024 that had already welcomed fellow luminaries of Black American Music like The Commodores and Herbie Hancock with SFJazz Collective.
Celebrating 50-plus years as a decorated recording artist and dynamic live performer, at age 71 Chaka Khan seems to defy Father Time. Her voice remains astonishingly well-preserved, and the steez sustains impeccably. She’s been thrust back into the zeitgeist once again of late, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2023, that honor chased by an instant-classic turn on NPR’s popular Tiny Desk Concert series. Still stunning audiences around the world since fronting seminal funk syndicate Rufus in her late teens, Chaka Khan took the Stern Grove stage and proceeded to make it her own with a torrent of titanic hits, a select few deeper cuts, and a crucial cover to boot.
Chaka Khan — Recap Video — Stern Grove Festival — 8/25/24
[Video: Kitten on The Keys]
Khan mined the annals for revered Rufus-era tracks: “Do You Love What You Feel”, the greasy groove of “Tell Me Something Good” (written by Stevie Wonder), “You Got the Love”, “Stay”, and a reggae-tinged “Sweet Thing”, much to the delight of the capacity crowd who roared in loving approval. With a measure of intimacy and distinctly personal touch, Khan sang each beloved number with an immaculate vocal delivery that sounded as acrobatic and powerful as any woman, let alone a superstar into her fifth decade in the game.
Throughout the 90-minute tour de force, Chaka incorporated the heavenly harmonies of her loyal trio of backing vocalists: Audrey Wheeler-Downing, Tiffany Smith, and Trina Broussard. The singer leaned on a longtime, faithful foil in all-world guitarist Robert Bacon aka Fonksta, who’s been sizzling by her side for several years. In addition to juicy guitar comps, his terrific talkbox detours through a few faves like “California Love” and ‘More Bounce 2 the Ounce” (Zapp) provided a proper yang to Khan’s mesmerizing yin.
Other headliner highlights included the Prince-penned, Melle Mel-assisted 1984 smash “I Feel For You”, which set off a sweltering dance party in the blazing mid-afternoon sun. “Through the Fire” flexed Chaka’s still-scintillating vocal chops atop a song that was later reborn as a generation-defining hip-hop sample. The anthemic affirmation “I’m Every Woman” sparked a euphoric late-set singalong thousands of revelers strong, as I spied Ms. Chaka cracking a proud smile. For this writer, the most magical moment of the entire day arrived when Khan masterfully unveiled a spine-tingling, reggae-scented arrangement of Fleetwood Mac’s timeless dream-pop “Everywhere”.
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Sunday’s music began at the stroke of 1 p.m. with a delectable DJ set courtesy of the divine LadyRyan on the decks; the royal empress was dripping in dynamite attire, keeping the vibes high as thousands of fans filed into the grove to claim the best available vantage point or milled about during a short intermission between acts.
Only about 2,500 attendees can fit into the danceable area on flat ground in front of the stage, but they get blasted by an unrepentant sun. Remaining fans can choose to fill in the steep, shady slope that looks down on the amphitheater, and the overflow crowd is accommodated with a separate viewing area adjacent to the main meadow, complete with large screens and loudspeakers.
Merely a short distance behind Khan’s half-century of greatness is British reggae institution Steel Pulse, who opened the afternoon festivities performing in its 48th year. The Grammy-award-winning legends are world-renowned for both fiery political anthems as well subtly-sensual styles. The group maintains a dedicated, diverse, sprawling global fanbase and catalog that Steel Pulse could have carried its own Sunday at Stern Grove Festival this summer. The band’s position on this day, however, turned out to be just exactly perfect.
Steel Pulse — Recap Video — Stern Grove Festival — 8/25/24
[Video: Kitten on The Keys]
With founder/leader David Hinds holding court steadily at the helm, a seven-piece Steel Pulse uncorked just over one hour of vibrant, dubbed-out excursions one after the next; joyfully plowing through trademark, horn-soaked, bass-driven bangers brimming with poignant teachings and thoughtful, unifying messaging. I was thrilled to spy auxiliary vocalist Kim Dawson (ex-Pimps of Joytime, Matador Soul Sounds) getting busy with these cats; she’s been a part-touring member for the past year or so and contributes mightily to the band’s sultry, intoxicating harmonics.
Opening combo “Ravers” and “Rally Round” set the tone with ample authority, the street-savvy “Don’t Shoot” and “Drug Squad” sounded the proverbial alarms. Bassist Amlak Tafari could be spotted mixing it up in the crowd up front, flashing his beaming smile while laying down his patented low-end rumble. A late-set romp through “Roller Skates” had devotees spinning and singing along loud and proud. In a loving nod to local scion Jerry Garcia, a rollicking run through “Don’t Let Go” was deftly reimagined as an uptempo-reggae rocker to close out a sensational Steel Pulse show.
words: B.Getz
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