Raphael Saadiq Was One Man, No Band at Dallas Show

With 30 years in the game, Raphael Saadiq brought his one-man show, the No Bandwidth Tour, to Dallas with an audience packing the Majestic Theatre on Friday, Sept. 19. They expected to hear the R&B crooner provide a concert with all of his classic chart-topping songs, but what we got was so much more than just the music. Saadiq shared his life story with us like we were on Broadway, showing that before he was Raphael, he was Charles Ray Wiggins, also known as “Ray Ray” from Oakland.

Initially, it’s a shock to be asked to lock up your phones for a show in an age where content is king, but with this show, you realize that locking up your devices allows you to unlock 30 years’ worth of nostalgia.

This was not a regular concert but billed as “one man, one night, three decades of hits.” Saadiq perfectly captured the tour’s name as he graced the stage filled with instruments, including a piano, two giant screens and three different guitars. The lights lowered, and he appeared in a hooded robe that he took off to reveal a sparkly, champagne-colored set paired with Bottega Veneta sneakers. “No bandwidth, just me,” he says, welcoming the crowd.

Saadiq began to tell us stories about his life growing up in Oakland. As he went down memory lane of his childhood and the music he heard in his home from his older sister, he spoke on his love of the group Earth, Wind & Fire and how he wanted to be each member of the band. After the song “In The Stone” plays, he said, “The bar was so high. I think the bar is kinda low these days, and I’m not knocking the kids.”

Keeping the show interactive, he asked the crowd what they believed the “Black cathedral” was. After they screamed “the church,” he corrected and said, “No, the barbershop,” resulting in laughter from the crowd.

As he discussed how his father was a “strict dude” who valued his children’s appearance and always kept a signature comb to keep their hair together, the crowd gushed, laughed and affirmed the sacred and relatable experience of grooming in a Black household. He sat at his piano and sang Steve Wonder’s “Superwoman.” He also grabbed the guitar and sang a masterful rendition of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” “I know I did something good when my dad would brag on me to the family,” he says, in reference to his singing.

The show had the feel of the 2000s MTV show Unplugged and was more theatrical than a typical concert; the screens continuously showcased images of Saadiq’s family, friends and B-roll of Oakland in the ‘70s and ‘80s. At times, it felt like a walk through a museum, and the Majestic Theatre was the right venue for an artist whose music has been so prominent in the industry.

In his early years, Saadiq was in a quartet called The Gospel Hummingbirds, where he learned to sing a three-part harmony. It was his first time singing on a mic. Once he hit junior high, he set his eyes on a talent show where he walked us through the preparation and fear of telling his mother about entering because he didn’t want to be disciplined. He knew that his school was predominantly Black and “Black people love a good bass line.” Dazz’s funky single “Brick” begins to play, causing foot taps and finger snaps from the crowd.

Taking his bass guitar in a Safeway shopping cart, Saadiq decided to start his set at the talent show with the song “Peanut Butter” by Twennynine and Lenny White. Once his schoolmates were feeling him, he began to play “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen, picking up his bass guitar to play just as he did all those years ago.

He recalls the school chanting to him to “turn around,” and when he finally did, the first-place trophy of the 1980 talent show was sitting on his amp that had previously shorted out. An image of the trophy showed on the screens behind him. Forty-five years and numerous shows later, he says that was the best feeling during a performance ever.

One year out of high school was when he got his first taste of the music industry. “That’s when the world was turning purple,” Saadiq says, as the stage was colored with purple lights. He goes into a story about heading to San Franscsco with his brother D’Wayne Wiggins to audition for Sheila E. and Prince, who were looking for bass players who could sing and dance. During the audition, he gave them his name, Raphael, which he stole from a friend who would provide an alias when dating, and he felt it was more fitting for his smooth personality. He grabbed his bass guitars and showed us his routine to Sheila E.’s “A Love Bizarre” and some dance moves. As the audience vibed along, he won us over the same way he did Sheila E.

His mom told him to bring his friend Timothy Riley of R&B trio Tony! Toni! Toné! along for the tour, and they headed to Tokyo. He detailed the time meeting Prince in a yellow suit and rehearsals where the Purple One said “somebody has a wonderful voice” to him when he was singing his parts. However, they were later fired from the tour and the team placed McDonald’s applications on their bunks. “That was my first time and last time ever seeing an application to McDonald’s,” Saadiq said as the crowd laughs.

With just his voice and the crowd singing along, Saadiq began singing “A Love Bizarre.” “I still got it,” he said, and his comedic timing couldn’t be any better. He dove into another story of how the group Tony! Toni! Toné! began with the name “The Black Police.” 

Thanks to Foster and McElroy, we got classics like “Anniversary,” which Saadiq serenaded us with while playing on the piano and disclosed that the “Victoria will be no secret” line was denied from trying to compete with the flawless songwriting of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. The stories behind a few of the group’s classics were born from Saadiq’s competitive spirit. In one, he said Teddy Riley’s group Guy was also an inspiration to create the upbeat dance track “Feels Good.” Ice Cube nudged him to hit the Slauson Swap Meet and dig through the crates for reference tracks to sample.

Saadiq has also had his hands in creating the soundtracks of films that had cult followings due to a nudge from the late filmmaker John Singleton, telling him he should score films and wanted a song for a love scene in his film Boyz n the Hood. His first solo record, “Just Me and You,” comes from that, although it was credited as a group song. When his next hit for Singleton’s film Higher Learning came, he made sure to credit “Ask of You” as a solo record, and the last name Saadiq was cemented in history.

Saadiq talked about his longing to be in a band, the second album being recorded separately and finding out 30 years later that it was due to his expensive taste in music, using orchestras and songs that cut into the checks of bandmates, that caused a divide amongst the group.

Despite one group ending, he loved being in bands, and he “jumps right into the devil’s den” to join Lucy Pearl, or as he called it, “Lucifer’s Pearl,” which made the crowd erupt into laughter. “That band was a nightmare,” he said. While the group was a nightmare to him, it created heavenly music. He performed “You” and “Dance Tonight” to the joy of the crowd, and he knew it was worth his trouble.

After performing “Still Ray,” he spoke on his relationship with “his muse,” Solange Knowles, and how they worked on music together. Singing his co-written song “Cranes In The Sky” a cappella while playing the piano was an ethereal experience.

Later in the show, Saadiq spoke about his late brother and bandmate, D’Wayne Wiggins, who passed away in March 2025. Wiggins was his half-brother, who many people don’t know shares a father and had different mothers. He speaks on Wiggins’ writing one of their biggest hits. He says he added the line, “What makes you think that I would try to run a game on you / Just as sure as my name is D’Wayne,” and his brother’s excitement at the suggestion.

Before the performance, Wiggins’s guitar was center stage, and Saadiq lit incense as Wiggins did during every performance, which he admitted he hated at the time, and set it in his guitar strings as the spotlight came down on the instrument. He walked to the piano and began to play “Whatever You Want.” When we got the line “Just as sure as my name is D’Wayne,” we sang the line repeatedly. As the room filled with the incense aroma under purple lighting and images of Wiggins on screen, the tribute was beautiful.

As the show was coming to a close, the crowd provided a much-deserved standing ovation. Walking through the life of an R&B legend through Saadiq’s words was a trip we’d take over and over again, because even through the bumps, his music makes us “feel good.”