Kenny Thomas: Feel-good, foot-tapping music from soul and dance icon at O2 Academy Sheffield

Fans of London-born soul and dance icon Kenny Thomas packed in to the O2 Academy 2 on Friday evening to help celebrate the 30 th anniversary of his debut album ‘Voices’ which peaked at number 3 in the UK album charts in 1991 and was certified platinum, just a month after its release.

Acantha Lang, a soul artist from New Orleans, provided the perfect support with a stunningly powerful voice and natural charisma which left the audience falling in love with her. A song called ‘Lois Lang’- named after her mother- received a heartfelt applause with its deeply meaningful lyrics.

One to keep an eye on for the future.

Greeted with a great ovation, Thomas opened up his set with a cover of Naranda Michael Walden’s 1979 hit Tonight I’m Alright swiftly followed by I Will, Act Like You Know and Best Of You, the latter song being from his debut album.

Other crowd pleasers included Stay, Can’t Hide Love, If You Believe and Turn It Up – a funky number that really had the crowd boogeying to the catchy lyrics.

Kenny announced that a new album was in the pipeline and performed one of the songs from that album – Stand Up For Love – an infectious number that he wrote with his friend and Sheffield’s own hitmaker Eliot Kennedy.

The final half of the set featured a cover of Lou Rawls’ You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine and Kenny’s smash hits Thinking About Your Love and Outstanding, lifting the roof off the O2 Academy.

Chants of “Kenny! Kenny! Kenny” echoed around the intimate venue, which was enough to bring him back on stage to a deafening applause for an encore featuring ‘I found Lovin’ – a cover song which he released last year collaborating with Dr Packer.

A wonderful evening of feel-good, foot-tapping music at the O2 by the timeless Thomas who continues to impress 30 years later.