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Emeli Sande
02 City Hall, Newcastle
12 December 2019
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Emeli Sande's new album, Real Life, hit the ground running in September and this well-crafted show acted as a perfect showcase for the new material, together with prime cuts from her earlier releases.
The event started in unexpected fashion, with Emeli tucked away stage left, on the keyboards, playing and singing Survivor. After that, she took centre stage and went through the card. Her extraordinary voice was strong and highly emotive. The new songs came across excellently, with Honest being a particular highlight. The established classics were present and correct, including powerful renditions of Clown and Read All About It (Part III).
In fact the evening was every bit as great as I thought it would be - with only one fly in the ointment. Certain parts of the audience seemed determined to try and spoil the evening for everyone else. There was too much coming and going for drinks, followed by the same people needing more toilet trips - and even more drinks. Some appeared to take delight in talking over the entire set, including the quiet moments during which Emeli introduced the more personal songs and explained their meaning. Out of all the audiences in manifold locations I have been to during this busiest of all years for gigs, this one was definitely the worst. Venues need to be more proactive to prevent such problems from building. Drunks should be thrown out; people leaving the room should not be allowed back in until there is a suitable break.
Anyway, this looks like being my last gig of 2019 (although late additions cannot be ruled out) and soon I will write about which gigs were the best of the year.
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