Brand New Heavies performance review (7 April 1997)

David Rowe (david@funkin.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 10 Apr 1997 19:22:10 GMT


Here is a review of the first BNH live performance in over two years
courtesy of Sharon Fox (sharon@funkin.demon.co.uk). As we await the
release of the new album, we thought that it would be nice to let the
readers of this list know how the performance went.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

On Monday 7th April, off we set into central london to see the Brand
New Heavies. As this was their first live performance for over 2
years, we were kind of excited and really pleased that we had the
tickets. The gig was at the Hanover Grand and having never been there
before, we did not know what to expect. That was the first
shock...the place was so small!! Only about 300 people there and we
were at the front!

The band came on stage at around 10pm, to a rousing reception. Andrew
was wearing a funky pale green flares suit with a white lace shirt and
Simon was sporting a rather bright red flares suit with a particularly
nasty Hawaiian shirt...you know, the usual! Siedah came on then,
wearing not a lot which went down well with all the guys...boy, is she
thin!

- The playlist was as follows:
- I Like It
- Dream On Dreamer
- Brother Sister
- Brand New Heavies (inst)
- Last To Know
- Stay This Way
- Stay Gone
- Once Is Twice Enough (inst)
- You Are The Universe
- Midnight At The Oasis
- Sometimes
- Never Stop
- Dream Come True

It was nice to see a good mix of old and new stuff. I had to say that
I went to the concert not really knowing what to think of Siedah, as I
think that N'Dea was really great with the band. But having seen the
Heavies with both singers, it has to be said that Siedah comes across
really well live. She has a seriously powerful voice and has great
stage charisma. The only problem she had was when she forgot the
words a couple of times and Simon had to help her out, but at least it
makes her human! =20

There was a technical problem after Sometimes, when the guys had kind
of blown some of the power circuits so Siedah got the whole crowd
singing the song with Jan playing the drums. The band seemed really
pleased that all the crowd knew the words and, for me, it was one of
the highlights of the evening as there was a great atmosphere created.
All too soon it was over, but at least they finished off with two of
my favourite songs. All in all, an excellent evening and personally I
can't wait for the album to be released later this month. Bring forth
Shelter...

________________________________________________________________________
david rowe
david@funkin.demon.co.uk www.netlink.co.uk/users/funkin/jamiroquai