It’s been more than 20 years since Craig David last performed in Chicago and the pop music landscape has changed. Some (including this critic) would say for the worst. Artists like David, who pioneered underground sounds in the mainstream and found international success, are rarer today, making for a more homogenous music community when access and ease of technology should make artists and their sounds more distinct than ever.
That was certainly apparent during David’s headlining show last night at the Chicago Theatre. Twenty years later, David is still able to command a room, this time filled with enthusiastic older millennials. His music — nostalgic, fun, buoyant and unique — also has something of a timeless quality to it. At least in the U.S., no one was making music like David back then. And no one is making music like him right now.
David, who hails from the U.K., first broke out on the scene in the late ’90s with a signature brand of pop that focused on R&B as well as the then-emerging garage sound of British dance floors. Surprisingly, it worked, connecting to a generation that gobbled up new music. Here in the U.S., David is perhaps best known for his singles “Fill Me In” and “7 Days,” the latter of which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000.
During Monday night’s show, David kicked off the jam-packed, 90-minute set with “What’s Your Flava?” off his second studio album “Slicker Than Your Average” (2002). Clad in all white with a light salmon-colored jacket, David created a lively and fast-paced show. Songs slid into each other one by one, as if listening to a mixed DJ set. David and his band members rarely stayed still, instead opting to move down and around the stage while playfully interacting by with each other, as well as showing love to the fans in the first few rows. David was not afraid to give proper shine to the background vocalists and instrumentalists who added an extra gravitas and brought the show to life.
And the audience responded with enthusiasm in turn, jumping up and down, breaking out their cell phones to record and singing along to all of the older hits (“Re-Rewind” and “Fill Me In”) as well as some of the newer ones (like “Got it Good,” a collaboration with Canadian producer Kaytranada, and “Abracadabra,” a song David is featured on and was released this year). During “Rise & Fall,” a 2003 collaboration with Sting, one audience member shouted “I love you, Craig. I never stopped loving you.”
The love was mutual. David frequently shouted out the city, either in name or through praise during down moments between songs.
“I was super gassed to come here because I know how much of a music city it is. How important it is here,” David said at one point, reflecting on the 23 years that had passed since his last show here.
House music, born in Chicago, has had an impact on artists and genres around the world. Those connections were made, both during a cover of the iconic Robin S. track “Show Me Love,” primarily sung by one of David’s background singers, and throughout a medley of early tracks David performed. These included songs like “Can’t Be Messing ‘Round,” “Follow Me” and the underrated “Rendezvous.”
“I just feel like I went in a time machine for a minute,” David joked.
Through it all, David exuded a cheerful and earnest demeanor. And his voice sounded as crisp and smooth as it did decades ago. Sometimes it felt like we were watching a music video, with David’s facial expressions and mannerisms feeling just cool, suave and cheeky enough. I especially noticed this during songs like “Ain’t Giving Up,” and the more downtempo “Walking Away.” That speaks to the enduring appeal of an artist like David, who has never been afraid to solely be himself.
“The energy inside of me. I’m so grateful for every single one of you,” David proclaimed. For those longtime fans in the room, they clearly felt the same.
Britt Julious is a freelance critic.