OK, so firstly, let’s start this by putting aside the fact that this was probably the gayest thing I have ever done, going to see Leona Lewis live in concert. Being seated in the O2 arena with mostly: screaming teenage girls, gay men, old couples and men who have been dragged along to the show by their wives/girlfriends was not my proudest moment I must admit. But we must move forward and be mature about this. I like Leona Lewis. A lot.
To the matter in hand. Since winning X-Factor series 3 in 2006 she has shot to fame, topping the Billboard 200 with a debut album, Spirit, making her the first British artist to do so. Spirit is also the fastest selling debut album of all time and was the number 1 selling album of 2007. During the competition Leona turned from a shy and coy girl from North London, into a slightly less shy and coy girl from North London, and this is why the British public fell in love with her. She won X-Factor, partly due to this, and due to her incredible talent and both these features came across strongly during her performance.
Her vocal performance skills were incredible, with not a single note out of tune. The highly varied and personalised versions of her album songs came across as if a recording was being played, due to the incredible control that she has over her strong, powerful voice. Her key songs including Homeless, Better in Time, Bleeding Love, Whatever it takes and The first time I ever saw your face, were executed with precision and filled the O2 arena with beautiful live melody. She also provided a number of covers including, Could it be magic, Cry me a river, Sweet dreams and They don’t care about us. Cry me a river deserves a special mention, as, being performed as part of an acoustic campfire moment, the sincerity and control was stunning, and provided a very special moment in the show. The closing number before the encore, Run, also provided a fantastic display of musical prowess and the emotion behind the melody was strongly felt.
Now the girl cannot dance to save her life. And this limitation did let the show down slightly. It is hard to judge this fairly after recently seeing Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour, where Lady Gaga doesn’t STOP dancing, but it was noticeable that the most advanced dance moves that Leona undertook were: walking with a bit of swagger, marching and making hand movements on the spot. And even these movements were slightly wet and poorly controlled, but I guess some people just don’t have rhythm. There were plenty of dancers framing her either side of most numbers to take the strain off, so, for an artist whose songs are mainly ballads, standing at the microphone stand delivering pitch perfect renditions seems appropriate.
The theme, I have now retrospectively discovered, is Labyrinth, as the tour is named. Going into the arena however I was not wise to this fact and because of this found the whole spectacle rather confusing. The scenery and dancers changed somewhat erratically from a weird underwater theme to dancing fencers, to dancers bouncing on Swiss gym balls. Even now knowing the theme the story of the show did not seem to flow correctly, and I think this is something that could be worked on. Even under the Labyrinth theme, the randomness and complexity associated was almost too random in this particular show. However again I must add that this faded into insignificance whenever Leona opened her mouth to sing.
Despite the small flaws in theme and dancing ability, I must put myself into the mind of a 12 year old girl in order to fully appreciate the show put on (some would argue that that is not hard for me at all, har..har..). Leona is an excellent role model and the show had that High School Musical kind of feeling to it that accompanies the story of a woman who has come from nothing to playing the O2. Parents are happy to let their children idealise this particular artist as she is much more stable, clean and likeable that many other artists, and that purity shines through in her humble demeanour on stage. For someone my age, I went for the music, and for singing ability this country has found an incredible artist to rival the best, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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