Alicia Keys Gig Review 'Songs in A Minor (concert)' album

It's 7.15 on a coldish Wednesday evening and as my friend and I walk towards the La Scala nightclub in Kings Cross for the first real concert by U.S. sensation Alicia Keys I know the line is gonna be heavy!. As we step to the back of the queue the buzz of expectancy that greets you at most live performances is superseded by the anticipation of a crowd waiting to see a young woman who is being hailed as the future of the RnB/ Soul genres.

The doors open bang on time and the murmurs of what Alicia will play or wear grows louder as the crowd moves forward into the low lit venue. Even though this performance is completely sold out the organisers and promoters thankfully decided not to pack the venue to breaking point, which I'm sure they could have twice over. They've also chosen a club which affords us four different lines of sight of the stage, so as we make our way to the bar we decide where the best spot is to stand.

Finally we decide to stand near the sound booth with a view just above the stage which currently holds three synthesiser piano's, one left, one right and one centre stage, a full drum kit at the back with two guitars propped on stage either side.
At around 8.45 most of the crowd is in and the low lit blue lights in the corners of the room along with the mellow jazz being played through the sound system combine to build an warm atmosphere of eagerness.
The majority of the people around me have been waiting for over an hour, but there is not a single sound of impatience and as I glance around I see the melting-pot of people Alicia attracts with her soulful old school sound. There are loads of females walking around with Ms. Keys' trademark braided hair and there's even a guy with exactly the same style she sports on the back of her album sleeve. The age range of the people around me is a mixture of late teens to mostly early to mid 20's and it's somewhat suprising the teens are here as most probably can't remember the vibe that Alicia is bringing with her music that those my age and above do.
A quick glance at the mixing desk someone spots a note which has Alicia due on stage at 9 and at a quarter past, artistically late, the music stops, the lights on the stage dim and shadows appear. The crowd begins to applaud as the lights go up to reveal all instruments manned and three backing vocalists stage right, then an eruption of cheering and applause greets the 20 year-old star as she strolls unassumingly onto the stage. Wearing a pair of dark blue, patterned fitted jeans, reminiscent of those she wears on her the back of her album. A matching top which is just visible through a long black leather jacket the whole outfit finished off with a stylish little belt and a wickedly chic leather flat cap Alicia epitomises street soul right down to her clothes.

Taking her plaudits with a few bows she surveys her now totally hyper audience with a seemingly suprised glance from right to left, flicks the back of her jacket over her piano stool and sits down at the keyboard centre stage, she begins to play the intro to the first track, 'Piano & I', from her now triple platinum selling album Songs In A Minor. The crowd goes nuts as she plays while again watching her crowd and then screaming from the front of the stage accompanies a chorus of "boo"'s from behind me as her playing seamlessly moves into a instrumental rendition of the late Notorious B.I.G.'s 'One More Chance'.
A silence then falls as Alicia stands, mic in hand and lets the crowd know how glad she is to be with us in London, this comment is greeted with more cheers from the audience and when she asks if were all 'ready to rock' the cheers reach a fever pitch and emphatically let her know the answer. The guitarists and the drummer begin to play and as the beat kicks in I realise that Alicia's question was literal as the melody of 'Rock With U' blazes from the speaker above me. Now sitting again Alicia's ease of playing is obvious as she sings, her eyes closing for the higher, more passionate notes and a smile appears on her face as she notices a group to her right totally caught up in the track and rocking to the beat.

Alicia, Hat

Another seamless track change sees the beatline slow and the bass drop as we are treated to Alicia's powerful harmonies through a fabulous rendition of 'The Life'. Her vocals are well accompanied by her backing singers and the occasional glance between them hints of a possible inside joke aswell as show how in-sync they are together.
A short pause precedes the intro to the Prince penned, and from the way it's sung, obviously personal song 'How Come You Don't Call' and as this song fades out a phone ring is distinct. Alicia stands up and steps to the side of her keyboard almost centre stage, the music fades out completely and the ringing replaces it at which point Alicia produces a mobile phone and puts it to her ear, over the speakers a guy answers the call with a "Hello?". Then cheers and applause from I'd say every single female in the house, and some guys too I'm sure are the reception as Alicia promptly hangs up on him.

We then get a further glimpse into Alicia's wry sense of humour as she asks us to excuse her she just has a little costume change. Strolling towards the back of the stage while taking her arms out of her leather jacket she stops about half way, then giving the jacket to a waiting crew member she swaps her flat cap for a black brimmed one he is holding and walks back to take a seat at her keyboard, "There." Applause and laughter follow and the comfort at which Alicia feels on stage is evident through this simple extension of her personality into her performance.
I glance around at some of the guys and sure enough most are as wide eyed as I am, you see although completely tasteful, Alicia's removal of her jacket has revealed a beautifully fitted top which matches her jeans which is also totally armless and backless. This moment of awe is broken as Alicia plays the intro to the track from her album she co-wrote with Xscape member and accomplished songwriter Kandi Burruss. 'Jane Doe' again treats us to the delights of Alicia's vocal arrangement as she melds perfectly with her backing singers and produces some exquisite bridges on the chorus. To those who have listened to her album alot this song is then noticeably cut short with a fade out as Alicia takes her mic in hand. First speaking to the female contingent of the audience she ponders the question with them "Now we don't wanna talk about these Jane Doe's do we?". While a small group standing to the right of the stage just below where Alicia is now standing answers along with her "No", she continues "Nah, cuz we got some good women in here right?".
A little crowd participation follows as the reply comes back from the crowd and of course it's a resounding "Yeah!", she then asks the same question of us guys and gets the same, although not as emphatic, reply. The guitarists then begin to strum, the beat softly comes in and Alicia finishes her sentence "... cuz every man knows..", she sits, replaces the mic, "... 'A Woman's Worth' ". The second single from Alicia's amazing LP is a testament to her talent for reaching deep down inside with her writing. It needs no performance as the words completely take you over and Alicia sings with such passion that the silence from the entire crowd around me is obviously in sheer admiration.

Next we are given a treat as the intro to Alicia's hit track 'Fallin' ' rings out, initially playing unaccompanied her backing vocalists only join in when necessary otherwise leaving us to enjoy her fabulous vocal ability. Her bass guitarist and drummer then join in after about 30 seconds in and as the volume increases so does my appreciation for this particular song.
This track is then followed by one of my personal favourites from her album, 'Troubles' receives such an emotion ridden performance on Songs In A Minor that it simply seeps out of the speakers into you. The live performance however supersedes that of the LP, Alicia's band become a part of her audience as she plays unaccompanied and to be honest the fact that my eyes were closed throughout only served to increase my enjoyment of the song as her voice seem to fill the entire room.
As the loud applause which is now becoming a standard after each song still echoes around me, Alicia again rises to her feet and begins to move the leather piano stool on which she has been sitting out from behind her keyboard to the front of the stage. As she is about to sit a voice from her right screams "we can't see you", a chuckle emanates from the crowd as we notice that the huge speakers which are each side of the stage are indeed blocking the view from that side. Alicia laughs and accommodates them by moving her stool further to her left, again just about to take a seat a voice this time from the opposite side of the stage shouts "now we can't see." Visibly amused by this little charade a smile adorns her face as she moves the stool once again, checking everyone is "..cool" she sits, crosses her right leg over her left and brings the microphone which had been resting on the stool to her mouth. There is a dead silence as we all wait to see what this amazing 20 year-old will do next, she begins to recount a night at home, she's with her guy chillin' up late watching a little TV. She tells us how around about 2am they're all comfortable, his mobile rings, the female members of the crowd groan in empathy and Alicia makes a face which seems to say 'uh-huh, exactly!'. She's says, "now I'm thinking who's calling him at him at this time?" and describes how he not only answers the phone, and all sly at that, but then proceeds to walk to the toilet and close the door behind him, the phone still to attached to his ear. It seems like this is a break for her from the relative seriousness of performing for us as she tells this story to a crowd of easily a hundred plus strangers as if we were her best friends sitting around her front room having a chat. The way she acts out the story from the manner in which he sneakily puts his head down to the phone to answer it, to the way she strolls up to the bathroom door and begins to bang on it, it doesn't feel like this was a story written specifically for our entertainment. Obviously Alicia demanded an explanation from her man, who was on the phone?, the answer she received from him gave us an indication of what was coming next, "baby, it was just a friend."

Alicia, Cream-Arms Folded

This fabulous little prelude gives us the opportunity to savour how incredibly at ease Alicia is with her audience and as she plays the second track from her album 'Girlfriend' I have a smile on my face from this little story. The bassline reverberates through the handrail infront of me as Alicia gives us a spirited rendition of this track and as the song fades so do the stage lights.
A look of disillusionment creeps across many of the faces I see and no doubt across my own, the lights return to maximum and Alicia thanks us all for coming and bids us farewell. After she leaves the stage the entire crowd remains where they are as if willing the concert not to be over, I look towards the doors behind me, not one person is even contemplating using them. It feels as if we've only just got here, "she can't be finished yet?!" I find myself saying just as her man from backstage appears with the mic, "Do you wanna hear more?". A cheer erupts from the crowd, myself included , "Y'all gotta make some noise if you want my girl to come back out here" he continues, the cheering increase both in volume and intensity and reaches a relative fever pitch as Alicia strolls back onto the stage, "Thank God" I think.
Alicia takes her seat and pauses for a second before playing the intro to a familiar song, but one not from her album, she begins to sing "strumming my pain with his finger / singing my life with his word..". "Boo!" is the immediate response from two guys behind me as the rest of the first few bars are drowned by cheers and screaming from some girls at the front. As Alicia sings, her version of the Fugees 'Killing Me Softly' takes her wonderful soulful voice and blends it with the evocative words making the whole song sound refreshingly new again. This proves to be our last song from her as she again thanks us, takes her bows and leaves the stage.
My first thought, "That was a fabulous gig."

'Fabulous' is a perfect description of my night aswell. Since Alicia came over in July to perform at the Hanover Grand for her album launch I've been waiting to catch her live, I missed that gig, thankfully I didn't miss this one.
I've experienced a few live performances her and abroad ranging from Puff's Bad Boy concert, to Noreaga at Westwood, to Destiny's Child and I can say without hesitation, this is the best gig I've been to yet.
You see the way I see it if your a quality artist it's not too difficult to please your audience at a live gig, I mean if they weren't feeling you in the first place they wouldn't have paid their money to see you live. Even those less than talented pop bands which seem to dominate the charts these days (well over here anyway) manage to leave their fans thinking they had a great time despite the fact that they mimed the majority of the songs and no fan was nearer than 100 metres from them.
This is why this concert was such a pleasure to be at, from the start I knew it was gonna be a good night. The stage wasn't cordoned off, the venue was big enough to create an nice atmosphere without being so big as to make you feel far away from the action, the lights and the soft jazz mellowed us all and when Alicia came out and dropped 'One More Chance' I was in the vibe immediately. She rocked every beat, hit every note and sang the songs with the kind of passion that remains the whole reason for going to live gigs, the little jokes and extensions of her personality and sense of humour into her performance were the proverbial 'icing on the cake.'
Trust me, if your anywhere and you hear Alicia is playing a concert, my advice, find out where to get tickets go straight there and buy one... infact buy two!.
This young lady is developing the kind of reputation which will have her live performances selling out in hours and it's well deserved, she is, to coin a phrase from the old school, the bomb!.

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Tags

Details

Alicia Keys Gig Review - Songs in A Minor (concert)