Jalen Ngonda: The Drill Shed, Margate, Kent

Jalen NGonda| DJ Alan Handscombe
The Drill Shed, Margate, Kent 
29th April 2026

Jalen Ngonda, not satisfied with merely supporting Olivia Dean on her current Art Of Loving tour, slipped down to Margate to play one of only a handful of solo dates he is splicing in between. Ngonda appeared at The Drill Shed in The Lido Complex on the Kent coast “as part of the 25 years of Margate Soul Weekender year-long celebration”. The Drill Shed, the recently re-launched and refurbished event space, poised to “fill the gap between grassroots venues and larger arenas”, has already played host to Craig Charles Funk & Soul show and is set to host New York trio Say She She as part of the same celebrations.

Ahead of the launch of his second album in early June, Jalen promised a “new set [and] a few new songs” before resuming his commitments to Olivia back at the O2 in London the following night. Ngonda’s 16 song set contained a few choice covers, plenty of crowd pleasers and an as yet unreleased cut from Doctrine Of Love. Curiously, he did not play his latest single, Hang It On The Shelf.

Seasoned Camden DJ Alan Handscombe, aided and abetted by two like minded geezers, warmed up the crowd on the ones-and-twos to the left of the stage. In their combined collection of Harrington jackets, tassel loafers, Ben Sherman checks, identity bracelets and earplugs, they could easily have just stepped off the set of a Guy Ritchie film. Handscombe spun is a classic collection of Soul 45’s for more than 90 minutes, treating the growing crowd to some rare treats that included the Northern Soul gem Stepping Out Of The Picture and Sam Cook’s stone cold classic – A Change Is Gonna Come.

Jalen Ngonda and his three-piece band, Ben on drums, Adam on keys and James on bass, took to the Drill Shed stage at 9pm to the delight of the increasingly impatient audience. American born but British based Ngonda, dressed in a red roll neck, black faded jeans, fringed waistcoat and brown suede Derby’s, looked every bit the assured and stylish ‘cool cat’ as he strapped on his guitar.

Rapture, the closing track from Ngonda’s debut album, opened the set and was followed in quick succession by one of his 2023 single releases, That’s All I Wanted From You. It was a very impressive start. Intent and execution had been clearly signalled. This was going to be a standout performance from a very talented singer-songwriter backed by three extremely proficient musicians.

Three more tracks from Jalen’s first album, Please Show Me, Give Me Another Day and the title track – Come Around And Love Me kept the crowd transfixed as Ngonda flexed both his remarkable vocal range and demonstrated his dexterity on the guitar. Ngonda’s warm and soulful vocal broke effortlessly into falsetto and down deep into a bassy rasp as he delivered each song to perfection.

Mid-set, Ngonda paused after a string of songs “Dedicated to…” to speak to the 750 strong crowd. “Ok, if anyone’s been following on social media and stuff, I’ve got an album coming out next month, and we’d like to perform for you a song that I haven’t released yet as a single, and that will be on the album, it’s a song called – Hannah What’s The Matter”. The upbeat, immediately catchy tune is now the fourth track anyone outside Jalen’s inner circle has heard, and it was an outstanding inclusion into the set.

Former Margate resident Ngonda called out, “Anybody live in Margate?” A big cheer came back. “What a strong number of people, I think the whole town! Alright, who lives in Broadstairs? he said with a grin on his face. Later, he’d also enquire about Ramsgate, “I knew there was another gate town around here”, and, randomly, Faversham as he tried to include all of Kent in his shout-outs.

Jalen’s collaborative single with Jordan Rakei, What It Gave Me, and the title track of the new album, Doctrine Of Love, heralded the departure of the band and two solo tracks from Mr N’Gonda. Firstly, sat alone at the Korg keyboard, Jalen sang a Burt Bacharach song before he stood back up, strapped on his guitar again and delivered a stunning cover of Jimmy Reed’s Blues classic – Baby What You Want Me To. The vocal and the guitar work were spot on, showcasing once more Jalen’s undoubted talents.

The band came back on to join Ngonda for the final four tracks, Mr Train Conductor, I Need You, Illusions, and to conclude, an extended and rousing version of – If You Don’t Want My Love. It was a great track to wrap up a great performance from both the man of the moment and his highly skilled band. Margate, and the Drill Shed, could not have wished for a better way to celebrate 25 years of its soul weekender.

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You can find Jalen Ngonda online here: They’re also on Facebook and Instagram

All words by Andrew Lockwood. More writing by Andrew Lockwood can be found at his author’s archive.

All photos by Aaron Thompson. AMP Photography