LIVE: Jamie Lidell at Le Poisson Rouge

While one soul man was coming down with the sniffles, another was bringing down the house a couple of miles away. Future crooner Jamie Lidell brought his brand of music to Le Poisson Rouge in Lower Manhattan

What's most striking about Lidell's career is how much ground work he laid down for the trippy straight of minimalist experimental R&B that acts like James Blake now traffic in. A technologist in addition to a traditionalist as a live act he continually warps and layers his voice into something bigger then himself. On stage it was just Jamie, a keyboardist and sometimes a drummer but the sounds hitting you felt like a full band...by the end of a song a simple beat box he might have thrown in the beginning of the song hits like kick to the chest.

Dance music was the theme of the night, specifically a call back to the classic house of the 80's and 90's. Lidell, who always trafficked in upbeat and dance friendly tracks, came in raver mode..even rocking an ill advised mumu. He kept all the songs high energy all through the night. He even let his keyboardist do a full solo vocoder assisted rendition of Robin S's "Show Me Love".

Jamie hasn't forgotten his first love however. For the encore he played his biggest hit, "Multiplicity" with a minimal amount of bass and a maximum amount of soul with the whole crowd singing along.