The biggest problem many bands face is the uphill battle of trying to get people to attend their shows. One of the most important ways to get actual humans into a venue watching your band is by transforming your show into an event. A show is something that happens at three different venues five nights a week. An event is worth clearing your schedule for. Such an event occurred on Thursday, Jan. 30th at Mud and Water. The two bands, Speakeasy and Cafe Au Lait, gave Baton Rouge an event not only worth attending but worth remembering as well.

The funny thing about building an event is that it rests almost entirely on the shoulders of the bands and their team. As an Internet generation we have become to dependent on social media as our sole source of advertising. Advertising needs to be more than just a Facebook event. Radio, print, and posters are tools that should be utilized to create the proper buzz that a successful event requires. For this event the bands recruited my favorite local taste makers at Jive Flamingo to sponsor the evening. Cafe Au Lait and Speakeasy came together and set up an early sound check with Mud and Water, showed up on time, and were ready to put on a show well before the audience started to meander into the venue.

The night started early with MC Luke St. John warming up the crowd, setting the mood with engaging slam poetry. He then announced Cafe Au Lait. The band promptly took the stage with a simple line up, guitar, bass, keyboard, drums and two lead singers. They filled the room with their anything but simple signature smooth soul; baby making music to say the least. Both singers are right on point. Both bands identify as Neo Soul. I find Neo Soul to be an odd label for a band like this. This “new” soul sounds a lot like the best of a long history of soul, and Cafe Au Lait reaches deep into this rich past. The history is not used as a crutch and the music maintains a freshness that doesn’t ignore the energy R&B and Hip Hop have given us in the past thirty years. A great artist steals from many different sources and Cafe Au Lait has robbed every bank in town. Soul, Funk, R&B, Hip Hop, Jazz, and Rock are all a part of their pallet. Several guest musicians joined in the festivities for a tune or two including members of Baton Rouge’s very own Captain Green.

After a fat hour and a half set the members of Speakeasy joined Cafe Au Lait on stage as if appearing magically from the depths of the night’s mist. The two groups jammed together for several tunes, then Cafe Au Lait disappeared as magically as Speakeasy appeared. This allowed the audience to move seamlessly into the second act of the night without even the slightest break in the music.

Speakeasy is a little louder and more ruckus. The smooth, sultry jams of Cafe Au Lait melted flawlessly into a big brassy R&B groove. This was music to dance to. Speakeasy is another Neo Soul band doing a similar impossible trick of borrowing old and reinventing new. AM, Speakeasy’s singer, is a power house of infectious energy. The basic band line-up includes a trombone and, get this, a vibraphone (I had to be told what it was.) The thing Speakeasy seems to represent so effortlessly is the Neo Soul genre’s ability to pull from the most complex rhythmic sources (jazz/ funk) and distil it down to a completely digestible, unpretentious groove that you just can’t help to move to. Speakeasy played another extended set, and the event concluded with all the members of both bands and Luke St. John taking the stage together for a huge finale. The music never stopped.

This was a treat. This was a joy. This was an event. Andrew from Cafe Au Lait described an event as, “A conscience effort to put forth a unified intention.” Simple, concise, and beautiful. These bands didn’t just play a show. They got together, put forth a little extra effort, and delivered, as a unit, one singular idea. It showed respect for the audience that paid their good money to come out and hear music. Really, the last, and most important thing, needed to turn a show into an event is for the bands to be great. These bands had greatness coming out of their ears, and into mine.