This concert was a celebration of Beverley’s twenty-five years in the music business. It does not seem that long ago that Beverley released ‘Flavour of the Old School’ but, in the meantime, she has become a British soul icon and one the country’s best live performers.
The show started with the Leo Green Orchestra playing an overture of Beverley’s songs before Lee introduced Beverley who was greeted on stage by the first of many standing ovations from the audience. Beverley was visibly moved by her reception and started her performance with ‘Made It Back’ which led into ‘Greatest Day’. She continued with ‘Keep This Fire Burning’ and ‘Middle of Love’ before introducing ‘Sista Sista’ a song from her ‘Prodigal Sista’ album. She then spoke of a time in her life when she felt really low and her god-daughter’s mother told her how good a person she was, which inspired her to write the next song ‘Gold’, which is one of the best ballads that she has written. With the tempo slowed down Beverley moved on to a cover of Heatwave’s ‘Always and Forever’ before singing a new song ‘Now Or Never’ which had an upbeat disco feel to it.
Beverley then talked about her career in musicals singing ‘Memory’ (from Cats), Love Will Stand When All Else Falls (from ‘Memphis’) and ‘I Have Nothing’ and ‘I’m Every Woman’ (from The Bodyguard). These songs closed the first set.
At the beginning of the second set, Beverley took us back to her schooldays, when she wore glasses and had pigtails and she learned how to sing in public by singing in church, with a version of ‘His Eye Is On The Sparrow’ which was sung perfectly, acapella. She dedicated this to her patents and family who were in the audience. She then sang ‘Flavour of the Old School’ followed by a tribute to one of her biggest influences Prince, a cover of his song ‘The Cross’. Next came two new songs, one recently written ‘Wild River’ and one written a while ago with the late Rod Temperton ‘The Beat of You’, both demonstrated that Beverley is making a strong start to her next twenty-five years!
Next up were ‘Never Like This’ and Stevie Wonders ‘Lately’ which was a preview of her autumn tour with the Leo Green Orchestra showcasing Stevie’s songs. Beverley then launched into an energetic closing phase singing ‘Piece of My Heart’, ‘Soul Survivor’, ‘Black Butta’, ‘Hold On, I’m Comin” before closing with ‘Come as You Are’
This performance was remarkable for its length (both sets were over an hour), her energy, the power of her voice and for her humility, (she seemed genuinely overcome by the love shown for her by her adoring audience).
Beverley Knight is fast becoming a British music institution. I look forward to the next twenty-five years of her music. The concert was recorded for release as a live album and for broadcast by Radio 2, any fans of Beverley who missed the show will enjoy listening to the recording.
Johns London Music Reviews 