Wayne Hernandez had nearly all of a packed 606 Club on its feet for most of the second set which is a tribute to how well he can engage with his audience.
My wife and I first saw Wayne at Hideaway eight years ago and were hooked immediately. He sang the first few notes of his opening song, Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett’s ‘Superstar’. We have been attending his gigs ever since. He has a beautiful soulful voice and a charismatic stage presence.
Recently, he has been singing with Kingdom Choir which has given him some richly deserved time in the spotlight.
At the 606 Club, Wayne opened the first set with ‘Any Love’ which was made famous by Luther Vandross. As usual his first set was fairly laid back giving Wayne an opportunity to showcase his vocal talent. He was superb with my favourites of the set being Simply Red’s ‘Holding Back The Years’ and his own song ‘ Man Out of Me’. There were opportunities for the band to show their skills with Michael Brown (Guitar), David Baptiste (Saxaphone), Junior Kane (Drums), Emlyn Allarde (Keyboard), Tom Shannon (Bass) and Vicky Akintola and Adenike Adenaike (Vocals). As always Wayne let his backing vocalists both sing lead, the two Yoruba (Nigerian) women were excellent. (The band members’ names may have been misheard, please let me know if they are incorrect)
The second half was an hour plus of non-stop up-tempo songs including Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’ and ‘Master Blaster Jammin’ before the encore ‘Sexual Healing’ brought the wonderful evening’s entertainment to a close. Wayne is next at the 606 on February 24th, if you like good soul music grab tickets whilst you can.
Johns London Music Reviews 