John Legend was a fitting choice for Alicia Keys’ support act at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Friday night. While his performance would have been better suited to a more intimate venue, he was clearly adored by fans who were enraptured with the sexy soul singer. Crowd favourites that got us up and moving were Get Lifted and Used To Love You, though, for the most, part Legend’s performance utilised slow building mid tempo soul ballads.The highlight of his set was Legend’s All Of Me which proves his undisputed clout as a songwriter.
Alicia Keys then took to a stripped back stage for a performance focused on creating an emotional connection with her audience. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Keys stadium show didn’t utilise any pyrotechnics or circus tricks. Instead she tried to recreate the intimate atmosphere of a New York blues bar with a four piece backing band, two back-up singers and four male dancers often saturated in blue light. For the majority of the set this approach highlighted Keys’ musical ability and gave strength to her lyrics, though it pitched her more recent chart topping singles a little short of the mark.
The set opened with a brief intro from Empire State of Mind, but she quickly reached back to her earlier hits with Karma and You Don’t Know My Name appealing to her longstanding fan base. She successfully nurtured the rapport with the audience through to what I considered the shows standout, Fallin, in which she demonstrated why she might be seen one of the great soul voices of our time. A quick costume change and a sweet filler from the husband and wife backing singers, Keys returned to the stage. During this next part of the show she attempted to elevate the energy level but this seemed to fall a little flat particularly in ‘Fire We Make’. In this song asked everyone to get up and dance yet the song didn’t really provide the right energy to make this feel like a natural response. There were, however, several moments during the show where this did work such as in No One. Here Keys asked the audience to hold up their mobile phones and this went down a treat with the crowd genuinely up out of their seats. The big hits of Girl on Fire and Empire State of Mind were saved until the encores; both were highlights of the show however the stripped back staging didn’t quite provide the wow factor for these songs. The artistic direction of the show seemed confused and there seemed to be a struggle between the tour heading, Set the World on Fire, and what Keys ultimately delivered which may have been more appropriately titled A Night with Alicia Keys.
Laura Lyell Wilson
