Tuesday, 17 April 2007
John Legend & Corinne Bailey Rae
Almost forgot. I saw John Legend and Corinne Bailey Rae last Friday at The Chicago Theatre, maybe not the best venue for a music gig and most certainly the Leeds-born songstress would have been better suited to a smaller and more informal setting but after the heady nights watching Bloc Party and Snow Patrol recently, this was altogether taking it down a notch.
Almost forgot. I saw John Legend and Corinne Bailey Rae last Friday at The Chicago Theatre, maybe not the best venue for a music gig and most certainly the Leeds-born songstress would have been better suited to a smaller and more informal setting but after the heady nights watching Bloc Party and Snow Patrol recently, this was altogether taking it down a notch.Rae played on stage with Legend at the Grammy Awards earlier this year and she won plenty of admirers after singing a 50-minute set in her soulful and kooky style to a very receptive audience. She then came back on stage to join Legend in a fun version of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway’s Where Is the Love.
Legend, an Ivy League-educated pianist and singer (he majored in English at the University of Pennsylvania) was quite the showman contrasting sitting at his trademark grand piano on centre stage with his intermittent prancing and preening around the stage. A bit like a hetrosexual Elton John without the dresses.
His voice was smoothly soulful as he belted out song after song from his Grammy winning Get Lifted and the more recent Once Again albums. I don't know his stuff too well but was tapping along happily to Lets Get Lifted and Save Room amongst others.
I guess I didn't wake up the next morning with my ears buzzing and a song's lyrics crashing around my head but Legend was determined to make it a memorable night and for almost 3 hours he and Corinne Bailey Rae almost certainly did.
¶ 16:48
