With all due respect, Alexandra Burke is a bargain bin Beyoncé. Harsh? Perhaps, but such is her love for the great Mrs. Z, I don’t think the X Factor victor would be too troubled by the comparison. From the first flip of her mane, it strikes me that Burke probably doesn’t slice into an avocado without first thinking: “What would B do with this?” The two have performed together of course, at the X Factor final in 2008: Beyoncé called her a “superstar”, Alex blubbed for Britain. It was sweet, in a kind of moist, fan girl way.
Now, I don’t have a problem with any of this. Ms. Knowles is, after all, one of the greatest divas of all time – what young poplet wouldn’t want to replicate her preposterous levels of talent? But tonight, I want to see Alexandra as Alexandra. She’s the creative director on the All Night Long Tour, so I’m eager to find out if she be playing it cool, edgy or quirky in order to put her own stamp on, erm, her own show.
She first appears on a distinctly unflashy platform a couple of feet above the band, clad in a metallic, shredded, Roman-looking gown. She throws some pretty sharp shapes and stumbles her way through the usually sassy ‘Broken Heels’, before being joined by four sexy dancing male gladiators. Nope, not going for cool, then.
The shiny minx finds her way soon enough – by second tune ‘Dumb’ her vocals have caught up with her hips and the disco-tinged number is downright enjoyable. ‘Start Without You’ falls flat, but remember this is a song that actually made headlines for being crap, with rapper Example comparing it, pretty accurately, to the old Kia-Ora jingle.
The obligatory acoustic set (featuring the not-so-obligatory ostrich feather gown) is better, with our fluffy diva nailing the vocal on ‘Overcome’ (one man actually springs out of his seat and punches the air during the money note). ‘Bad Boys’ is delightfully brazen and its flirty choreography is bags of fun. Burke’s million-selling version of ‘Hallelujah’ sounds, well, like every other version of the song I’ve heard after Jeff Buckley’s. ‘Nuff said.
Speaking of wreaking havoc on a classic, at one point, Alexandra asks the adoring audience, “Are there any Destiny’s Child fans in the house tonight?” I hate to break it to her, but she’s got the Destiny’s Child fan in the house. I was never going to approve of a DC3 medley (especially not one that featured songs from just one of four albums...) but now I’m really mad. Burke has a wonderful, earthy voice, but surely she realises that belting out a bunch of Beyoncé hits is only going to remind us that she’s nowhere near the singer Ms. Knowles is?
The Hot Press snapper on duty, Ruth Medjber, will happily tell you that the All Night Long Tour was like “a school production of the Beyoncé show.” I’m not going to be quite so scathing (not on paper, anyhow), but Alexandra will have to step right out of her idol’s shadow before I can take her seriously.
Still, if the overzealous air-puncher thinks that much of the young Brit, maybe I could too. See you in five tours’ time, Alex.