Vika Bull has all guns blazing in this terrific Etta James tribute. 

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‘I’d rather go blind, boy.’  This refrain fades out solemnly in the recording of this iconic blues ballad. Last night, Vika Bull and the Essential R&B Band opted for the climactic, big finish. After playing off against the excellent brass section, Bull stood on stage with an arm outstretched as she delivered the final note of an impassioned rendition of Etta James’ ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. The audience erupted in applause with a scattered mid-show standing ovation.

At Last: The Etta James Story finished its UK tour last night at the Cadogan Hall in West London. From Glasgow to Brighton, the production has celebrated the life of R&B/blues legend Etta James at twenty-three different venues. Adopting a narrative concert format, the production features vocalist Vika Bull and trumpeter Tipor Gyapjas inserting historical and biographical context between songs. Ably if sometimes clumsily, they charted James’ trajectory – dwelling largely on her tumultuous years as a solo artist grappling with drug addiction. Ultimately, the production reassures us, James was able to shake addiction and continued to perform up to her final years. Milestones such as the naughty ‘Roll With Me Henry’, released by James when she was just fifteen years old, and ‘All I Could Do Was Cry’, her breakthrough single with Chess Records, were nicely signposted. But the success of the production is not in its narrative – surely known to most Etta James fans – but in the music. Specifically, its central performer.

Bull, an Australian artist of Tongan descent, has spearheaded The Etta James Story since its world premiere in Melbourne in 2013. She describes James as one of her seminal artistic and vocal influences. James was known for a vocal texture which could switch from velvet to sandpaper in a syllable. Bull’s tone sits in between these two extremes. It carries weight and sting, with irresistible power. From the direct and assertive opening lines of ‘Tell Mama’, Bull tore through the set with force, finesse, and frisson. She roared through the rambunctious strip-tease of ‘W.O.M.A.N’ (co-written by James and her wayward mother), and closed the first act on a vulnerable note with ‘Sugar On The Floor’, a Kiki Dee song from 1973 recorded by James in 2002.

In addition to ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, the audience was particularly wrapped up in a James Brown cover. Though once referring to the Godfather of Soul as ‘a little dictator’, Etta James recorded his ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ in 2006. While extolling the wonders of male invention, the song states at its famous chorus that it would ‘mean nothing without a woman or a girl’. James recorded it, we were told, because ‘she believed it was true’. So did Bull seemingly, as she steered the song towards a heady climax, amping up the volume and power as the song developed.

The Essential R&B Band, with musical director and pianist John McAll at the helm, delivered galvanising support. Perhaps the only discernible weakness was the lack of dedicated backing singers, thus slightly losing the to-and-fro in an otherwise spirited version of ‘Something’s Got A Hold On Me’. However, this is only a quibble. With impeccable sound mixing, the arrangements were hearty and raw, but always tight. McAll’s scintillating piano and Dion Hirini’s guitar solo in ‘Come to Mama’ come to mind as standouts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ywYX2V72E