Beverley Knight has been a staple of the British Soul scene since her first album, ‘B Funk’, was released back in 1995. Her most critically acclaimed album, Who I am from 2002, put her firmly in the spotlight and she has released several albums and toured since then taking influence from many, but especially Prince who she supported on his residency at the O2 in 2007. Since 2013 she has starred in the musicals The Bodyguard, Memphis and Cats, and will back in The Bodyguard in July now that this tour is over. Her talent is undoubted and she has seen success in everything she has touched. Her new album Soulsville came out of a visit to Memphis when she was preparing for her role in Memphis, visiting the Royal Studios where some of the best Stax songs were recorded. The album, which was recorded in just one week, is a mix of classic covers and her original compositions and, in her own words, was the best recording experience she has ever had. You get the feeling from listening to it that she would not have been out of place recording on the great Stax label back in the 60s.

Following the cancellation of a concert two days before this Brighton date due to a throat infection, one could have been forgiven for thinking that this show may have been toned down a bit. Not at all – Beverley and her amazing voice sounded as strong as ever. This was the last date of the tour supporting the imminent release of Soulsville and the concert featured heavily from it, but still kept in a lot of her back catalogue which would keep her faithful fans happy.

Beverley made a dramatic entrance to rapturous applause, her strong voice piercing through the lights and smoke, pinning the audience back into their seats. This was a statement of intent as she kicked off with ‘Soul Survivor’ backed by the funkiest band I have seen her with – a nine-piece including three backing singers and a small horn section. From the second verse she had the audience up on their feet, and there they stayed through most of the concert as she hit us with high energy and dynamic soul funk, including her new single ‘Middle Of Love’ which has a real Stax groove about it, and tremendous covers of classics like ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’ by Ann Pebbles and ‘Hound Dog’ which was made famous by Elvis.

It wasn’t all high energy though and we had a chance to sit down as she toned things down with ‘All Things Must Change’ from Soulsville, which showed her softer side. Sitting down was short lived though as ‘Flavour Of The Old School’ had us on our feet again. She is such an honest singer who puts her heart, soul and everything she has into every word. Audience favourites ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Get Up’ were mixed with the new and she also paid tribute to the recent loss of Maurice White of Earth, Wind And Fire with ‘Fantasy’ and ‘After The Love Has Gone’ (the latter giving her superb backing singers their place in the spotlight). All the way through she chatted with the audience, sharing stories behind the songs she sang and she seemed genuinely touched by the response to the songs from the crowd.

‘Keep This Fire Burning’ rounded off the show but there was no way the crowd was going to let her get away and an extended encore followed which included ‘Hold On I’m Coming’ from the new release, The Bodyguards’ ‘I’m Every Women’ and the old favourite ‘Come As You Are’. These were rousing, electric and a fitting finale to her tour. My only, miniscule, complaint was that Beverley didn’t include ‘Remember Me’ or ‘No One Ever Loves In Vain’ from Affirmation which are tremendous, heartfelt ballads and show her superb ability to capture emotions at their strongest. A special mention must go to her support act, Ghosts Of Our Former Selves, who were superb and are well worth a listen to again. This new album has been a long time coming and confirms that Beverley’s voice and song writing is still as good as ever.
Ian Lauder