Concert Review

Artist: Alicia Keys

Opening Acts: Melanie Fiona, Robin Thicke

Venue: John Labatt Centre

Location: London, Ontario

Date: March 8th 2010

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

We all know Alicia Keys to be an exceptional talent, matched only by her stunning beauty and well-rounded personality. After seeing her on stage, you can add “complete Goddess” to her profile. Very few performers have the ability to connect with their music like Keys does. She engages her audience, and expresses showmanship that has everyone on their feet.

Alicia Keys at the John Labatt Centre last night was a roller coaster ride that took the audience from being like a caged bird to freedom. More on that later.

First up for the opening acts was Toronto-born Juno-nominee Melanie Fiona. Starting out with an intro from Cher’s song “Bang Bang” and transformed into Fiona’s own song from her debut album The Bridge, Fiona was feisty, dynamic and an ideal opening act for Alicia Keys.

Fiona then sang “It Kills Me”, “You Stop My Heart”, “Give It To Me Right”, and the rousing playful song “Ay Yo”. Melanie was proud of her country as she ignited the audience by saying “My name is Melanie Fiona and I am Canadian.”

Next to tear up the stage was Robin Thicke and tracks from his fourth album Sex Therapy. Thicke came out in aviators, a black suit, coiffed hair, unbuttoned shirt and gold chain. It felt like Thicke fills a George Michael need, that sexy man-model singer, but he has to be careful because one degree to the right and he is treading on dangerous George Hamilton territory.

Thicke’s falsetto vocals crooned songs like “Sex Therapy”, also more Jay-Z inspired tracks like “Meiple” and “Shakin’ It For Daddy”. Thicke had a great brass section, but the performance was little to be enthused about as he lacked authenticity and didn’t go far enough over the edge to do camp very well either. This was a minor disruption to the concert as when Alicia Keys took centre stage she was authentic enough for everyone on the stage and in the audience.

A three-tiered film screen system across the width of the stage was laid out for Alicia Keys performance. The stage was relatively basic with a grand staircase. It was more industrial then I perceived Keys stage might be, but she seemed to have a unifying theme for her show. We initially see Keys caged with a voice-over of her saying “I am a truth seeker”.

At one point Keys bends the cage and escapes. We are then bombarded for the next few songs with fascist imagery, graphics and words like “fight” and “unity” on the screens that seems to have a direct correlation to a Big Brother suppressive society. Keys invites the audience “be a renegade like me. In this building you can be whoever you are, whoever you wanna be.”

As the concert progresses the stage is set alight with simulated electricity currents for one song and the jumbo screens start to shift in their imagery and progress to words like “love”, “freedom,” “peace” and quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Gandhi. Final images encapsulate what can only be described as the Revolution of Alicia Keys as we see blue skies, doves flying and finally the audience members on the big screens as representatives of the new freedom fighters – truth seekers. Forget the sweet Alicia Keys we have all come to know, this musical production was a force to be reckoned with.

Keys has four outfit changes throughout the performance — a black top with shiny silver pants, a black shiny top with short skirt, a stunning white gown that made Keys look even more beautiful then possibly imaginable, and for the finale the white top from her gown and shiny dark gray pants. She looks sensational in all the outfits as she is both physically strong and dainty all at the same time.

Unsuprisingly the musical instruments Keys plays on the stage are all unique and considerably progressive. Even her piano has a billboard runner along the length of its side that scrolls the words “Play Me” that keep trailing past Keys until she takes the hint.

Another outstanding instrument was Keys' guitar-styled electric keyboard that slung over one shoulder and was bookmarked with the style of an actual door key. Alicia Keys had a musical duel with one of her guitarists and it was a delight to see her joy for music and comradery in those moments.

Also, anyone who has watched So You Think You Can Dance Canada got a real treat as Natalli Reznik from season one is one of Keys' back up dancers and a backup singer performing the classic “Feelin’ Good” during one of Keys costume changes. The backup singer did such a sensational and heartfelt rendition the audience leapt to its feet when she finished. Keys is also an active philanthropist and she took a moment to put the Keep A Child Alive foundation into the limelight and get some much deserved exposure. 

Keys sang her greatest hits from her four albums including singing early on “Fallin’”, “A Woman’s Worth", “You Don’t know My Name", “If I Ain’t Got You”, “Superwoman”, “Like You’ll Never See Me Again”, and a particularly crowd-rousing rendition of “No One”. Keys sang “Empire State Of Mind” as an encore. Her voice was incredible and never seemed out of tune or off in any way.

The bass was astoundingly loud and sometimes it was difficult to hear the songs, but I suspect that is because Keys sings regularly to audiences like the Super Bowl or at events like the Grammys. The sound system was simply too loud for the intimate 5,000 people experience. This was however, a minor detail compared to a night well worth anyone’s money to experience.

After seeing Alicia Keys for many years perform at televised events and how statuesque, talented and truly, deeply, madly into the music she was, I suspected that her stage persona live might pale in comparison. But mnuch like her theme of transcendence in the concert, Alicia Keys was all of the above and she finished the concert like a complete Goddess.

You can see Keys perform at the ACC in Toronto on March 10^th or any one of her international tour dates.

http://www.aliciakeys.com/ca/events