MAVIS STAPLES
Union Chapel, London, June 24
In rich, grainy tones, the venerable gospel-soul survivor still takes you there
Second home: Mavis Staples plays the Union Chapel
AWAIS BUTT
SOME wars are never fully won. “I’m asoldier and I’m gonna keep on fighting,” Mavis Staples tells the rapt audience in her “second home” of Islington’s Union Chapel, site of numerous Mavis shows, including the one that yielded her 2019 Live In London album. “Y’all come with me, we’re gonna fix this thing.”
These days, the 84-year-old sole survivor from legendary gospelsoul troupe The Staple Singers conducts her crusades less often from the frontline than from astool next to the drum kit, sipping tea (“That’s hot!” she cries, meaning her cuppa rather than the bassline). But her history as afocal voice in the civil rights movement of the ’60s and ’70s remains the source of great reverence, and she’s still adeeply righteous figure in an age when that fight requires engagement once again.