Sometimes the thrill of a live audience brings out the best in a vocalist. Joss Stone’s latest release – a live album capturing performances from her 2023 ’20 Years of Soul’ tour, with crowdsourced setlist recommendations from her fans – is a key case in point. Perhaps some of the range of her catalogue was scarified at the expense of a lengthy reggae melody – and I, personally, would have loved to relive her searing take on ‘I Put a Spell on You’ (performed at the London show in tribute to the late Jeff Beck) – but the tracklist here does a fine job in surveying different moods, genres, and periods from Stone’s career. Crucially, all are fantastic vehicles for Stone and her band, from the southern soul grit of ‘Tell Me ’bout It’, the bluesy scuzz of ‘Fell in a Love with a Boy’, and the feathery restraint of ‘Jet Lag’. Always a precocious talent, Stone has honed her craft and never sounded better. Her voice still has its piercing magic, though on this collection she sometimes holds back where a younger Stone may have attacked. Plenty of “thank you, lovelies” and anecdotes pepper the album – apparently, she was handed a spliff during a concert in Swaziland. Her eight minute encore of ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ is one hell of a high.

Credits:
Vocals – Joss Stone
Guitar – Steve Down
Bass – Carl Fields Jr
Drums – Adam Smith
Keys – Josh Brown
Trumpet – Tyler Jaeger
Sax – Jovan Quallo
Backing Vocals – Bailey Hyneman
Backing Vocals – Louise LaBelle
Front of House Engineer – Dan Sennett
Monitors and Mix Engineer – Chris Sennett
Mastering Engineer – Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering
Track 5 – Acoustic Guitar – Chris Sennett