REVIEW
Imelda May
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea
8th May 2017
Imelda May
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea
8th May 2017
I expect that there were a number of die hard Imelda May fans in the Southend Cliffs Pavilion audience itching to get up on their feet and have a jig along to songs from her back catalogue. Her last album, Tribal, was released in 2014 and during the time in between, it would seem that Imelda has spent much of the time going through some serious changes: both in her life and with her writing. This is clearly reflected in her new album, Life Love Flesh Blood and you certainly get the sense that writing this album has been quite a cathartic experience for the Dublin born singer.
The fifties rockabilly look and trademark quiff has gone and replaced with a blunt cut fringe. Strutting on to the stage in a little black dress and high heeled ankle boots, May joined her fabulous sounding, 7 piece band to kick off the evening with the sensual ballad, Call Me, incidentally, also the first song on the album. She kept the mellowness going with the soulful, gospel sounding, When It’s My Time, which she dedicated to an 88 year old lady she had met whilst running at a local park earlier in the day. The lady, Rose, had told her during conversation that she’d been to the doctor earlier that day and had been told that the breast cancer lump she had, was reduced enough for him to not need to see her again. This pretty much summed up the song’s message, Imelda explained, ‘Take me - but not yet’.
The majority of evening was given over to songs from the new album Human, Sixth Sense, The Longing along with the deep-felt, How Bad Can A Good Girl Be, Levitate, Leave me Lonely, Should’ve Been You and in particular, the hauntingly heartbreaking, Black Tears.
As the singer herself admits, in the past she would sometimes “hide things in my songs and twist them around” but now she is saying it exactly how it is.
Imelda May has certainly found a new sound in her writing, with blues, soul, gospel, folk, rock and some explosive balladry featuring in this personal and intimately autobiographical album.
One poignantly emotional moment in the evening came from May’s telling of her reasons for writing one of the songs on the album, after the untimely death of a colleague. He was meant to work with her on the album but was tragically shot and killed alongside his girlfriend in the Paris shootings in 2015. The rawness of the pain of this is evident as Imelda explains that she was later told, that as humans we have two primal emotions: love and fear. “I choose Love!” she told us as she launched into Love and Fear.
Bad Bad Handsome Man and Wild Woman from her other albums were also thrown in for the fans, who finally had their opportunity to get up and dance to Mayhem, the title track from her 2010 album, with a delighted Imelda, declaring, "About bloody time!"
With an encore of The Girl I Used To Be, written for her daughter, Violet, Jeff Beck’s Walking In The Sand and finally Game Changer, old and new fans alike were treated to over 90 minutes and no less than 20 songs from this unbelievably talented powerhouse of a singer.
The fifties rockabilly look and trademark quiff has gone and replaced with a blunt cut fringe. Strutting on to the stage in a little black dress and high heeled ankle boots, May joined her fabulous sounding, 7 piece band to kick off the evening with the sensual ballad, Call Me, incidentally, also the first song on the album. She kept the mellowness going with the soulful, gospel sounding, When It’s My Time, which she dedicated to an 88 year old lady she had met whilst running at a local park earlier in the day. The lady, Rose, had told her during conversation that she’d been to the doctor earlier that day and had been told that the breast cancer lump she had, was reduced enough for him to not need to see her again. This pretty much summed up the song’s message, Imelda explained, ‘Take me - but not yet’.
The majority of evening was given over to songs from the new album Human, Sixth Sense, The Longing along with the deep-felt, How Bad Can A Good Girl Be, Levitate, Leave me Lonely, Should’ve Been You and in particular, the hauntingly heartbreaking, Black Tears.
As the singer herself admits, in the past she would sometimes “hide things in my songs and twist them around” but now she is saying it exactly how it is.
Imelda May has certainly found a new sound in her writing, with blues, soul, gospel, folk, rock and some explosive balladry featuring in this personal and intimately autobiographical album.
One poignantly emotional moment in the evening came from May’s telling of her reasons for writing one of the songs on the album, after the untimely death of a colleague. He was meant to work with her on the album but was tragically shot and killed alongside his girlfriend in the Paris shootings in 2015. The rawness of the pain of this is evident as Imelda explains that she was later told, that as humans we have two primal emotions: love and fear. “I choose Love!” she told us as she launched into Love and Fear.
Bad Bad Handsome Man and Wild Woman from her other albums were also thrown in for the fans, who finally had their opportunity to get up and dance to Mayhem, the title track from her 2010 album, with a delighted Imelda, declaring, "About bloody time!"
With an encore of The Girl I Used To Be, written for her daughter, Violet, Jeff Beck’s Walking In The Sand and finally Game Changer, old and new fans alike were treated to over 90 minutes and no less than 20 songs from this unbelievably talented powerhouse of a singer.
Support for Imelda May on this tour is her fellow Irish singer Jack Lukeman who not only proved that he has some great songwriting skills but also showed off an unbelievable vocal range, not least with an acapella rendition of Old Man River, a song he originally heard his father sing when he was a kid. He also managed the almost impossible feat for a warm up act, of getting the Southend audience up on their feet and singing along to his songs, despite having never heard any of them before - such is this musician's deprecating wit and charm! Certainly one to keep an eye out for...don't forget that name...Jack Lukeman..
His new song, Magic Days, is out now. For more info go to: www.jacklukeman.com Twitter @jackllukeman |
Tickets for Imelda May’s major UK tour are onsale now via www.gigsandtours.com / www.ticketmaster.co.uk.
VIP packages including an exclusive meet & greet opportunity as never offered on an Imelda May tour before, will also be available. More info at www.sjm-vip.com.
TUE 09 GUILDFORD G LIVE
THU 11 READING HEXAGON
FRI 12 BOURNEMOUTH PAVILION THEATRE
SAT 1 NOTTINGHAM ROYAL CONCERT HALL
MON 15 LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC
TUE 16 YORK BARBICAN
THU 18 LONDON PALLADIUM
FRI 19 BRISTOL COLSTON HALL
SAT 20 MANCHESTER BRIDGEWATER HALL
MON 22 BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL
TUE 23 EDINBURGH USHER HALL
WED 24 GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL
FRI 26 GATESHEAD THE SAGE
w. imeldamay.co.uk
f. facebook.com/imeldaymayofficial
t. @ImeldaOfficial
VIP packages including an exclusive meet & greet opportunity as never offered on an Imelda May tour before, will also be available. More info at www.sjm-vip.com.
TUE 09 GUILDFORD G LIVE
THU 11 READING HEXAGON
FRI 12 BOURNEMOUTH PAVILION THEATRE
SAT 1 NOTTINGHAM ROYAL CONCERT HALL
MON 15 LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC
TUE 16 YORK BARBICAN
THU 18 LONDON PALLADIUM
FRI 19 BRISTOL COLSTON HALL
SAT 20 MANCHESTER BRIDGEWATER HALL
MON 22 BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL
TUE 23 EDINBURGH USHER HALL
WED 24 GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL
FRI 26 GATESHEAD THE SAGE
w. imeldamay.co.uk
f. facebook.com/imeldaymayofficial
t. @ImeldaOfficial
Review: Kim Tobin