Janine Johnson’s Soul in the City (with special guest Martha High) – Pizza Express Holborn 29/12/2018

Martha High gave a magnificent performance energising her willing audience.
The show started with a set from the hostess Janine Johnson. Janine is charismatic and has a great voice. It is wonderful that she can be seen and heard up close in small intimate venues but it is sad that she is not better known. Her set featured strong covers of Atlantic Starr, En Vogue and Chaka Khan hits (amongst others) but it was her own songs that I enjoyed the most. Her ‘Passion’ with its words and her performance defines her as an artiste. Janine is a talented performer who has a passion for singing and song-writing whilst enjoying her craft.
Martha High spent over 30 years touring as a vocalist with the Godfather of soul James Brown. For some of those she was also his hairstylist. Now she works as a solo artist but still has great respect for her former boss, always referring to him as Mr. Brown. Her set was high energy and high quality, a mixture of soul, blues and funk. Her set included ‘The Big Payback, ‘Lean on Me’ , ‘ Cold Sweat’ and ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ during which two members of the audience joined Martha on stage to be taught the accompanying dance. The show ended with Martha and Janine duetting on a Donny Hathaway Christmas song.
This was my wife and I’s 104th and final gig of the year. It was great to end on a High.