Nikka Costa & Olivia Rubini – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore (A PopEntertainment.com Concert Review)

Updated: Dec 2

Nikka Costa & Olivia Rubini – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA – November 11, 2024

The white soul sister is back, after nearly two decades out of the public eye. Nikka Costa released some totally funktastic grooves in the 1990s and early 2000s. Her newest album has just been released after several years, the aptly named Dirty Disco, and now Costa is out on a club tour to share her new music and old favorites. And it’s good to see that the crowd has been waiting for her.

The opening act was Olivia Rubini, recent alumni from the TV competition The Voice and the daughter of local rocker and music producer Ritchie Rubini (he was a founding member of The Caulfields, and also played with Bon Jovi for a while.) Olivia appeared to be a good rootsy blues rocker with just a bit of pop to keep things interesting.

I say appeared to be because the sound mix of the opening set was just awful. The lead guitar was so loud and high in the mix that it overwhelmed the rest of the band – steamrollering the rhythm guitarist, the bassist, the drummer, and even the vocalist.

Rubini often had to go all out just to be heard over the axe, and many of her subtler moments were just swallowed up by the wall of sound coming from one instrument. Therefore, whether she was doing a tender ballad (“Heartless Woman”) or a cover of a favorite Harry Styles song, sadly you couldn’t totally tell if she was doing them justice or not.

Of course, the sound quality is not her fault – or at least probably not, if she were a more experienced performer, she may have picked up on it and had something done about it – so I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she is a better artist than this set showed off.

Ironically, like Rubini, Nikka Costa’s father was also a music producer, but from a different generation, often working with Frank Sinatra, who had been Nikka’s godfather. However, Don Costa died while Nikka was still a child and her music – which was pretty white bread when she recorded a few albums with dad as a little girl, starting at nine years old – became far funkier when left to the artist’s own devices.

In fact, a taped voiceover introducing the band announced “the return of the funky white bitch” to bring Costa onto the stage. Funny thing is, the last time I saw her perform at World Café Live in 2008, she was selling “The Return of the Funky White Bitch” t-shirts as concessions, so she’s been identifying this way for quite some time.

This tour is promoting Costa’s new album Dirty Disco, which is only the second record she has released since that 2008 tour. That’s kind of a shame, because while she never became a hit artist, she had a strong cult following for her first four adult albums. Things like parenthood and pandemics got in the way and kept her out of the studio and off of the road, she explained from the stage.

But now the bitch is back, and it’s good to have her. The show was made up of 13 originals and one slightly eclectic cover of “Dance Wit’ Me” by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan – a great tune, but hardly the most recognizable pick from those funk titans’ fiery songbook.

However, the setlist was pretty spot on, with her old favorites and new tunes coiling like a snake and shaking like a tailfeather. And Costa, despite all these years off the road – or perhaps because of it – had all the energy she has ever shown.

She started off with a trio of hot shots from the new album, “Dirty Disco,” “It’s Just Love” and “Keep It High.” By the time she reached back in her songbook for “Like a Feather” and “Pebble to a Pearl,” the funk was undeniable.

Occasionally some of the songs felt a little padded. “Everybody Got Their Something” had a bit too much back-and-forth vocalizing with the audience which sort of killed the funky exuberance of the tune. “Dance Wit’ Me” featured three instrumental solos: on guitar, bass and drum. Only the keyboardist didn’t get the time to shine, which somehow doesn’t seem fair. Still, that’s about one or two too many solos for any single song. However, mostly the show was fiery and tight.

Nikka Costa reminded us, for one night at least, why the world has been missing her and needing her little shots of soul. Here’s hoping it’s not another several years before she passes this way again.

Jay S. Jacobs