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André Paine's rating
, Katie comes of age
By
André Paine
4 Dec 2006
Katie Melua has sold seven million albums in the past three years, but she still seemed a little awestruck at her biggest show yet in London.
Perched on a stool, she began with a solo acoustic spot and admitted that opener Faraway Voice was actually her first effort written on guitar. "I never imagined I'd be here at Wembley four years later," she said sincerely.
It has indeed been a vertiginous rise since Melua graduated from the Brit School for Performing Arts and teamed up with Wombles songwriter Mike Batt.
And she's only just 22. The fear was that her smooth sound, which can be a tad soporific, might get swallowed up in the arena.
Happily, Melua was up to the job and she breathed new life into familiar tunes and belted out some inspired covers during a gutsy 90-minute performance.
Some of the older fans in the audience doubtless appreciated her polite, conversational banter and clearly she's just as charming and sweet as her music.
But her voice was undeniably strong as she ran through five tunes on her own including a bewitching Lilac Wine. The band then kicked in with a blistering version of Marvin Gaye's How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, giving Melua the freedom to dance, albeit slightly awkwardly.
She delivered a decent vocal performance, though, screwing up her eyes and emitting some terrific wailing. Versions of the Rolling Stones' It's All Over Now and The Cure's Lovecats were equally entertaining - certainly, her choices were far better than the egregious covers on The X Factor every week.
Melua's own song I Do Believe In Love is unremarkable on record, but with her on piano accompanied by a viola it sounded like a minor classic at Wembley.
The current, jazzy single Shy Boy was cute enough, too, although as Melua sang its coy lyrics of youthful flirtation there was something a bit weird about the fact it was actually written by the 57-year-old Batt.
She also performed a fun song they co-wrote called Halfway Up The Hindu Kush. "Some people think it's got a double meaning, but as my mum's in the audience tonight it doesn't," she joked.
That was about as racy as it got, but then Melua is really just about the music. Refreshingly, she doesn't sound off in interviews or pose provocatively in her videos - and this affecting, mature performance proved she doesn't need to.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (4)
I just came back from the two back-to-back Melua shows at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam. Great sounding venue, excellent audience, and more than enough to please both ears and eyes. Yes, Ms. Melua has a lovely voice and is very pretty on top of that; but she's truly all about the music - not the looks.
The second show saw her a bit hasty to go through it, to the point she introduced It's Only Pain then the band fired into Blue Shoes, and less interaction with the audience in general.
The only nit I can pick is that the two shows were identical, song by song, and perhaps Ms. Melua might take into account the handful of fans who go see her more than once, and might like a small change here and there thrown in a multiple stand in a city. To be also fair to her, these shows were quite different from her August performance in Mainz, Germany where she closed an open-air day playing after Simple Minds.
So... have you seen her live? Not yet? Well, go.
- Alessandro, Seriate, Italy, 10/12/2006 10:19
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I love Katie Melua and everything she does and have introduced her, through her albums, to friends and relatives throughout Europe. I have seen her live twice this year at Birmingham and Wembleyand both performances were fantastic and I can't wait to see her again. She announced that her mother was in the audience at Wembley and thought that she must be immensely proud to have such a beautifuland talented daughter. One criticism I have though was that the programme on sale bore little relationship to this particular concert and was identical to that which I purchased in Birmingham in January but console myself with the thought that the £16 total cost will help to contribute (I hope) to more music from this talented performer.
- Peter Smith, Plaish, Church Stretton Shropshire, 08/12/2006 13:44
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Just read this review and also the one in the Guardian today and it sounds to me as though the reviewers were at different concerts - or maybe they are at different places in their lives, or have different needs to fulfill when writing the review or need to gain the literary approval of different people - who knows?
I think you either 'get' Katie Melua or you don't. The people who 'get' her enjoy her for exactly what she offers - a really great voice, an enjoyable evening, and some good (some very very good) songs. There is nothing complicated and at the moment her audience is made up of people who want exactly what she is giving them. As and when she becomes older, more world weary, more traumatised by life perhaps her concerts will change but at the moment I for one (and I count myself as somone lucky enough to 'get' her without stressing about whether she is written about in NME - or wherever - and therefore deemed cool by an ever diminishing taste militia) think that the very cool Ms Melua is exactly what music needs
- Danny, harrow, 05/12/2006 11:29
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I went with a friend and wasn't sure whether Katie Melua would be able to entertain an audience in a place this big - she always seems a bit 'small' and low key on television.
I was surprised by how she was able to make it intimate in the acoustic songs - almost as if the audience came to her - and then in the up tempo songs she really rocked out - and I wasn't expecting that at all
Also she played the piano for one of the songs (can't remember which one) and was good. So overall I would say she easily exceeded my expectations and the evening gets a thumbs up from me.
- Sally, London, 04/12/2006 18:10
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