A number 1 album and single, Brit Award nominations,
sell out tours, heralded as an MTV Artist To Watch...short of delivering world
peace and discovering a cure for cancer things couldn’t be going much better
for John Newman right now. A quick glance at his back story and you can’t help
but feel he sort of deserves it though. Aside from that voice he had a tricky
childhood (alcoholic father who left home when he was six leaving the family
pretty much broke), but in the best traditions of all great soul singers he
used this as a positive force, writing and producing his own stuff in his early
teens before moving to the smoke at 20. The
rest is history. Snapped up by Island Records he got his first big breaks on
Rudimental’s Feel The Love and Not Giving In before releasing arguably THE
single of 2013 in the shape of the self penned (with Steve Booker) Love Me
Again. And the dude’s still only 23...good grief. Cutting it live was all that
mattered tonight though. Would we still...ahem...love him again at the end of
it all?
First up Lolo (aka Lauren Pritchard), another young
prodigy who allegedly moved to LA at just 16 to be the lead singer of a reggae
band and ended up living with Lisa Marie Presley for a while...as you do. After
a spell in musical theatre she re-launched herself as Lolo last year and
currently lives in hipster’s paradise, Brooklyn (the place that is...not one of
Beckham’s seedlings). Dressed in cut off black denim jeans and a t-shirt she’s
got a touch of the young Janis Joplin about her (perhaps with just a dash of La
Winehouse and the lovely Miss Del Rey), both physically and vocally with a raw
soulfulness and live power that’s clearly benefitted from a decade or so in the
biz. This was perhaps most noticeable this evening on a show stopping Weapon
For Saturday, a true ‘tour de voice’ that’s sooooo much better live than on
record...or MP3 or whatever you’re supposed to listen to music on these days. Working
the crowd like a pro it was an impressive set and it frankly doesn’t take a
huge leap of imagination to see her back here headlining her own sold out show before
the year’s out. Cop a listen to the insanely catchy piano driven Year Round
Summer Of Love and tell me I’m wrong.
As with most gigs I’ve been to at The Institute
recently this was another sell out (who says there’s no money in music anymore
eh?), with a mix of hip young things ready to go three shades of crazy once Love
Me Again kicks in and older soul fans seeking a new messiah. As a pre-recorded checklist
of his musical heroes faded out and a giant sheet covering the stage dropped to
the floor Newman strode onstage in trademark suit and bleach striped quiff and
launched into Tribute. First off the boy can sing. Okay so there are a few
issues, a slight nasal quality and the fact that his vocal is obviously influenced
by those aforementioned heroes (the true soul greats of the 60s for instance) but
there’s no doubting his ability. Casual fans may not realise that all these
songs are self penned (or co-writes) too, given the fact that you can imagine Otis
Reading belting some of them out that’s pretty impressive for a lad from North
Yorkshire. Secondly he’s a bit of a nifty mover too. Not a patch on Sam or Dave
in their prime (at least not yet) but it’s nice to see some footwork up there. Thirdly
there’s clearly a HUGE amount of love for him in the room tonight, something he
repays by the bucket load over the next hour or so.
On one or two of the early numbers he seemed to
struggle a little on the odd note, given the fact that he’s been on the road
pretty much non-stop this year it’s no surprise but it’s something he needs to
watch. As his voice warmed up those odd moments passed although to be honest
often the best soul shows have those little imperfections...that catch in the
voice that indicates real emotion as opposed to mere performance.
He played pretty much everything off the debut
album, from the Northern Soul-tastic floor fillers like Cheating through to the
more lighters-aloft (if they were still allowed that is) stuff like All I Need
Is You, dedicated this evening to us, his audience. Bless (as an aside he seems
like a pretty humble bloke, genuinely amazed by what’s happened to him over the
last year or two). As glitter balls beamed a thousand shards of light across
the stage during an emotional Losing Sleep and Newman did his best Rick Astley
shuffle I spotted several ladies of a certain vintage looking distinctly moist
eyed (actually there were a unusually large number of ladies of a certain age
here tonight...must be the mothering instinct).
In amongst all the soul stuff there’s a much heavier
number, Day One (“For anyone who pisses you off” he explained), a recent
addition to the set by all accounts that hints at a rockier side to Mr Newman. Who
knows? Maybe he’ll decide to go a bit Zeppelin one day?
Ending the main set with the Randy Crawford meets
Terrence Trent D’arby (remember him?) meets Ashford and Simpson of Gold Dust
the crowd stamp so wildly for an encore that Newman’s quiff looks distinctly
floppy when he returns. Rudimental fans are given a treat with a run through the
drum and bass and soul mash up of Not Giving In (a surprisingly effective mix)
and then, well, it just had to be...Love Me Again. Let face facts, this is a
TUNE. It’s one of those tracks that brilliantly picks over the carcasses of
past classics and comes up with something that’s arguably even better (a little
like that post Christmas turkey curry). I defy even Stephen Hawking to resist throwing
down some talc and spinning around to this one. As the crowd drown out both the
band and Newman during the chorus they take over for a good minute or so,
belting out Love Me Again...and again...and again. After an audience pleasing show like this it’s
not hard to understand why.
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