Dowe have any believers in the house?” If you’re not a believer, Sharon Smith and the Sons of Soul will do their best to make you one. Their performance at the August 7 Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues was no spectator sport.
After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the line to get in the door stretched past slot machines and onto Mandalay Bay’s gaming carpet. The “only gospel show on the Strip” is celebrating more than two decades of church and “sangin’” with Sin City locals and visitors alike.
“Not sing, saang! How many witnesses here know the difference?” Smith asked the audience, which sat banquet-style in front of the raised stage and at smaller tables toward the back of the room. “I want you to put your forks and spoons down, stand up and clap your hands!”
Between buffet bites of fried chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy, Creole dirty rice and other Southern staples, the congregation stood and raised its collective hands and handkerchiefs, proclaiming, “Amen, hallelujah.” Those like me, who need a little more help letting the holy spirit in and moving to the music, can be baptized in the fire of a spicy Bloody Mary from the bar.
Chicken and waffles
Director and emcee Patti Pennington says the long-running event has an “open-door policy”—all are welcome to join in the non-denominational gathering.
“It’s … where everybody can come eat,” she says. “The bible talks about [compelling] them to come, where they want to be a part of it. It’s not always about, you know, ‘The Lord said this.’”
And come, they have. After selling out monthly shows in its initial pandemic comeback, the event recently added twice-monthly shows October through December. The upcoming brunch on September 11 will pay tribute to the victims, families, first responders and volunteers of the 9/11 tragedy.
Pennington, who started with Gospel Brunch 17 years ago as a backup singer and now coordinates the talent, says attendees—both loyal locals and tourists looking for some communion and spirituality on a Sunday in Las Vegas—want more than food and a show.
“They want to be fed spiritually. You don’t know when people are at their breaking point,” she says, recalling a past guest who shared with emcees after the show that she had been contemplating suicide.
“By the time we get through ministering to them through song and really having some church and touching their soul … they’re not the same as when they came,” Pennington says. “You’re coming to experience a journey of healing through music.”
Backed by drums, keyboard and bass, rotating artists and groups perform standards like “Every Time I Turn Around He Keeps Blessing Me,” and Kirk Franklin’s “Why We Sing,” along with more contemporary numbers like Marvin Sapp’s “Never Would Have Made It.” At the August brunch, the Sons of Soul performed a rendition of 2Pac’s “California Love,” retrofitted with more church-friendly lyrics: California/Knows how to praise him.
“We have fun. We take you on a ride, open up your soul, get a little emotional and then take you back up,” Pennington says. “We want everybody to leave and know that they’re feeling good.”
GOSPEL BRUNCH September 11, October 9 & 23, November 20 & 27, December 4 & 11, 10 a.m., $28-55. House of Blues, houseofblues.com/lasvegas.
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