Beverley Knight delivered a ferociously consistent, high intensity, and marvellously sung tribute.
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In the month of Marvel creator Stan Lee’s passing, it occurs to me that the fictional metal of ‘adamantium’ has been reified into existence. Not only does it lace the bones of comic book legend Wolverine, it sits at the core of Beverley Knight’s voice – which sustained a two-set Stevie Wonder tribute of blistering intensity last night.
Staged in the London Palladium – where Knight took her I ♥ Soulville tour last year – the concert was recorded as part of BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night, due to air in February 2019. Knight spoke of how it was ‘a joy, an honour, and a responsibility‘ to perform Wonder’s catalogue.
She could not have been in finer company, backed by the 24-piece Leo Green Orchestra (LGO). Though looking rather reserved, the gentleman sat behind the Hammond organ delivered delicious licks of swirling, churchy energy throughout (in particular on ‘Misstra Know it All’). A fully-decked horn section played with vigour, and it is always welcome to see Dave Ital on guitar.
Beginning with ‘Superstition’, the set dotted around Wonder’s greatest hits with Knight’s charming commentary in between. It comprised some of Wonder’s 1960s work (‘Uptight’, ‘I Was Made to Love Her’, ‘Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday’), and mainly material from acclaimed albums Talking Book (‘Superstition’, ‘You Are the Sunshine of My Life’, ‘Blame it on the Sun’), Innervisions (‘Living For the City’, ‘All in Love is Fair’, ‘He’s Misstra Know-It-All’, ‘Higher Ground’, ‘Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing’), Songs in the Key of Life (‘I Wish’, ‘Sir Duke’, ‘Knocks Me Off My Feet’, ‘Isn’t She Lovely’, ‘As’), and Hotter Than July (‘Master Blaster’, ‘All I Do’).
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes Ms Knight that cut above the rest. But it is possibly the fact that she is both so uninhibited – even wayward in her energy – but always so precise. She rips into the material while never making a technical misstep. Her voice has warmth and delicacy in the soft, low range, strength and fullness in the middle, and sting and elasticity at the top end. I’m also a sucker for her lioness growl. Another beauty of Ms Knight is her ferocious consistency. There is no gradual ease into the set. She begins at full-throttle (not to imply any lack of nuance or dynamics), and never lags.
But in a concert where this writer was stunned throughout by the vocal and orchestral excellence, a few special highlights come to mind. Knight tellingly described piano-driven ballad ‘Lately’ as a song about the creeping midnight terrors of a relationship crumbling apart. It was a rendition imbued with vulnerability. In ‘All In Love is Fair’ her voice soared into the stratosphere. On ‘Do I Do’ – which played at Knight’s wedding, she told us – she funked up the ‘honeysuckle chocolate dripping kisses full of love‘ repetitions with sass and leggy strut. The end of ‘I Wish’ was littered with sneaky false stops. On ‘Living For the City’, she growled fervently on the line ‘lord her legs are sturdy‘ (video here).
We have a treat waiting for us next February.
