For a mere 19 year old, Katie Melua has a surprisingly mature audience – the average age on the opening date of her first major tour was at least 40. But then you have to remember that it was the venerable Terry Wogan who first championed her on his BBC Radio 2 Breakfast show, while UK music veteran Mike Batt is credited with discovering her at the Brit School of Performing Arts. Somewhat bizarrely, Batt himself walked out on stage for a “few words” before tonight’s performance commenced.
After informing us that he was her manager, producer and songwriting collaborator, the man behind the Wombles then told us how thrilled he was that Katie had “removed” Norah Jones from the number one slot the previous day. Ouch!
Melua herself arrived to a rapturous welcome and soon settled into a relaxing groove, performing sultry, faux-jazz numbers from her debut album with a fine band, which included double bass, muted trumpets, Batt’s tinkly piano, as well as former Rod Stewart guitarist, Jim Cregan. Depending on your taste, songs like ‘Call Off The Search’, ‘Blame It On The Moon’ and ‘My Aphrodisiac Is You’ are either instant classics or clever pastiches.
A new song about racism was a clichéd reworking of the old ebony and ivory theme, and had the cringe-inducing line, “If a black man is racist is it OK/If a white man’s racism made him that way?” Her poignant tribute to her former hometown, ‘Belfast’ is the most personal of her repertoire, while not surprisingly her smash hit single, ‘Closest Thing To Crazy’ elicited the most ecstatic response from the easy-to-please crowd.
Melua looks stunning, has a winning personality and a strong voice. But despite her obvious talents and commercial appeal, tonight there was something oddly lacking in the heart and soul department.