Bringing Back The Motown Sound to Leicester at Maiyango

Since May, on the last Thursday of every month, we have been creating a new musical scene at one of Leicester's best restaurants, Maiyango and, in all honesty, we have been completely blown away by the support that we've received over the past few months.

The concept of Adam Thomas and The Souljers was originally conceived at the turn of this year (when we had the publicity shots below taken by Gary @ SMD Photography) but it has taken us a while to get up and running as we weren't sure what kind of show we were looking to create - purely soul and Motown? With some Reggae? Pop? Country? (Joking on the country!!)

In the end we decided that the energy of the show would carry any style of music through to the audience and, as luck would have it, it has turned out this way!

Barbie Girl to Need A Dollar, Two Can Play That Game to Seven Nation Army: our set list is an eclectic mix for sure, with many songs that the audience recognize... but they're not like the originals as we tend to give things a real soul feel! We always try to put together songs that are either fun, cool, energetic, cheeky, old school or just downright funky.

We didn't want to become just another Leicester Soul Band or Motown Show but something truly different. So, we put together a fully choreographed show, along the same lines as The Temptations, mashed together with a wonderful bit of geek chic (#geeksarecool) and so far the demand has been phenomenal! :)

So, if you haven't been along to see the best Soul Band in Leicester at one of Leicester's best kept secrets then you're missing out on the best cocktails, food and entertainment by the biggest geeks in town!! :)

Last Thursday of every month at Maiyango, Adam Thomas and The Souljers - Bringing Back The Motown Sound!

This is a review of our show from our friend Gary's blog at SMD Photography (obviously he's a little biased but hey!)

We really, really, really had a great time at Restaurant Maiyango last night. Adam Thomas has created a three piece group who put on a fantastic show singing and dancing to modern classics… with a twist. It’s a really clever and entertaining show with great singning and dancing. I’m not going to say why it’s so clever… you’ll just have to go yourself and find out.

You can catch the show at Restaurant Maiyango every last Thursday of the month. The next one being on the 29th September.  You can book a table for a meal or just turn up later for the drinks and the show.

It was thirsty work watching all of the dancing going on so it was an added bonus that I found my new best mate… sorry my new favourite bottle of beer. It was called Viru, it comes in a funky bottle and it goes down a little too well.  It took me about six or seven bottles to realise this.

Gary @ SMD Photography

Mr and Mrs Higham's Wedding Entertainment at Ramada Jarvis

The day had finally arrived... Sian and Stephen were getting married after years of planning and organising!

There was a real buzz about the Ramada Jarvis in Leicester as preparations got underway for Sian and Stephen's wedding bash: the grand staircase was decorated with white swag, fairy lights and pale blue bows, Adam's star cloth was twinkling away and their evening guests began to make their way into the King's ballroom for the party.

Special Guest!

The lovely couple have been Adam Thomas groupies for quite some time (even attending our Snow Ball Christmas event with their family). They had thought of every little detail and the room looked really beautiful... As did their brand new baby girl, Emma :) she wasn't on the original guest list (!) but was a wonderful early wedding present for the happy couple!

(c) Adorn Photography

Romance From The Balcony...

The most unique part of this wedding was the first dance. As usual, Adam gathered their guests around the edge of the dance floor and introduced the new Mr and Mrs Higham onto the floor. It's usually quite a surprise for wedding guests when Adam performs the first dance live however, in this case, the surprise was even more breathtaking: Adam snook up the stairs to the small balcony which overlooks the ballroom and, from there, performed Adele's "Make You Feel My Love" from above the dance floor! It was awesome... I had to video it as a little keepsake of the day!

<a href="http://shop.adamthomasonline.com/track/make-you-feel-my-love">Make You Feel My Love by Adam Thomas</a>

(c) Adorn Photography

The guests were treated to the usual live sets from Adam followed by a predominately 80's/Girly disco (at the bride's request.) There was still plenty for the boys and a nice Take That-style round up to the party with EVERYONE on the dance floor... What a night!!

I'm sure we'll see plenty of the happy couple in the future and, who knows, maybe Adam will be the old crooner that gets booked for Emma's wedding :0) x x x

Ricky Dicky Cards, Bespoke Stationery

Bet you did a double take on the title of this blog didn't you?! Well I promise it isn't made up, this is the quirky name of a fabulous stationery company based in Leicester. We first met the owner Rikesh at a Wedding Fair at The City Rooms and quickly became great friends. His work really stood out and made a great impression on Adam and I (and the guests seemed to love it too!)

I mentioned Rikesh's company in my last post about the Leicester Wedding Club and warned you that I had to talk about him a little bit more. We've fallen in love with Rikesh's charming personalilty and his modesty about his work. He is clearly incredibly talented and is doing very well with his newly formed business. Whilst he specialises in Asian wedding stationery, he also creates for non-Asian weddings, birthdays and pretty much any event that you could think of! We love his modern approach whilst keeping some elements of tradition in his designs. I've added a few of my favourites to this post but please do visit his website, or follow him on twitter.

We also love him for creating these fabulous chocolate wrappers for our nephew's Baptism... imagine how cool it would be to hand out personalised chocolate bars to your wedding guests: pretty, classy and yummy all at once! Just make sure they save you one :)

The Baptism / 2nd Birthday Chocs!

So, to Ricky: thanks again for the beautiful chocolates... everyone commented on how personal, special and delicious they were! And to you brides: get designing those choccies... your guests will enjoy them on the day (Mmmmmm!) and they'll be sure to keep the wrapper as a souvenir of your day too! x x x

Mr and Mrs Chawner, Bradgate Suite at Sketchley Grange

Jodie and Matthew had booked Adam to perform at their wedding very early on in their planning and I had met and chatted to them at several of the

Sketchley Grange wedding fayres

after that too. Their wedding had always seemed so far into the future that, when their Big Day finally arrived, I couldn't believe that it had finally come around!

Lots of couples take at least a year (sometimes two) to plan their wedding and, when we arrived to set up for their

evening entertainment

, we suddenly realised just how much planning this lovely couple had needed to put in!

The Bradgate Suite

at

Sketchley Grange

had been fully decked out in white and hot pink with huge ostrich feather table centres, table runners, balloons, chair covers, fairy lighting... The works! To complete the 'fairytale princess' look, their cake was a sparkly Princess castle!

Their evening guests were treated to casino tables to kick the evening off, a delicious buffet, a chocolate fountain and a fully stocked candy table too! In between munching on all of this and having a flutter on the casino, guests were invited to leave video messages as well as sign the interactive guestbook... Never a dull moment!

'Fun-filled' would be the word that best describes the finishing touches that this lovely couple sprinkled over their big day... They then spoilt their guests with two live sets by

Adam Thomas

:)

A Very Different First Dance...

Their chosen first dance song was

Earth Angel (The Penguins)

: this was the first time that we'd ever had this song requested so it was a really nice change to see this used for a first dance (the

lyrics

are surprisingly apt and the tempo is perfect) :)

Following on from this, their wedding entertainment really kicked off with Adam's live performances: a little bit of

Michael Buble's Everything

to get everyone singing and swaying along!

<a href="http://adamthomas.bandcamp.com/track/everything">Everything by Adam Thomas</a>

This was then followed by a full-on

Pop, Soul and Indie

second set for dancing: Soul Man to

Valerie

, Paolo Nutini to Mr Brightside! Act two also had one or two numbers from Adam's

new soul show

thrown in for good measure (Forget You (Cee Lo Green) still proving to be the evening's favourite!)

The atmosphere was electric and the bride and groom had a good boogie too. The dance floor was full all night long with the wedding party jigging away to everything from Take That to The Human League, Hot, Hot, Hot to Dirty Dancing! They even requested a springling of reggae, which is always something we like to accomodate - we love a bit of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Musical Youth!

(One of my personal favourites, however, have you ever seen dancing like this before!!)

A gorgeous day weather-wise was rounded off with a fantastic evening entertainment-wise. Here's to Jodie and Matthew: we'll miss you at the wedding fayres guys! Can't wait to see the photos though... Congratulations!  :) x x x -- This is just for Jodie! :) ...

Debbie and Mark's Big Day at McDonald Ansty Hall

I had met Debbie and Mark so many times at various wedding fayres that I had almost forgotten that they were one of our wedding couples - they felt more like old friends!

'Unconventional' would be the word that best describes the finishing touches that this dynamic duo sprinkled over their wedding day at the wonderful McDonald Ansty Hall... Mark even arrived for his nuptials by helicopter! Show off! :)

Amazed by Lonestar Performed Live by Adam Thomas

<a href="http://adamthomas.bandcamp.com/track/amazed">Amazed by Adam Thomas</a>

As I've said before, every wedding is unique and, other than the helicopter, the other thing that stood out for me was their choice of second dance: following on from Adam's live performance of Amazed (Lonestar) the bride's colleagues (fellow school staff) were ordered to join the lovely Debbie in a rendition of... (drum roll please)... the Birdie Song! What a way to break the ice! (Watch the video below and join in!!)

Michael Buble, Hey Ya and Swinging!

When it came to the rest of their wedding entertainment, Adam's live performances kicked off with a little bit of Michael Buble and swing followed by a full-on Pop and Soul second set for dancing. Once again this was slightly adapted to include a few of the numbers that we've been performing in our brand new Soul show: Forget You (Cee Lo Green) and Hey Ya (Outkast)... Both were well received as always with lots of shimmying and shaking being done by all ;)

The atmosphere was fantastic (you would never have believed it was a Sunday night!) The dance floor was full all night long with the wedding party jigging away to everything from Take That (Debbie is a mahoosive Take That-ite!) to Amy Winehouse, Erasure to Scissor Sisters... There's nothing better than a couple with an eclectic taste!

A beautiful day weather-wise was rounded off with a barbeque plus a wonderful evening entertainment-wise. Here's to Debbie & Mark, all the very best guys... Congratulations! :) x x x