The Divine Miss Keys

Alicia Keys- Enmore Theatre, Sydney 25/10/04

Firstly, in going to this concert, I was a fan, but not a huge one- like, she doesn't spring to mind as one of my favourite artists (unlike Christina or John Mayer), but I went along expecting it to be a good showcase of a really talented artist.

Anywayz, I was really blown away with JUST HOW talented she is. She has an awesome voice, was funny and entertaining, danced (!- I wasn't expecting that one!...I thought she'd be at the piano the whole time, but she danced....and was good!), played the piano beautifully (Delta's playing is not a SCRATCH on Alicia's....I've always been doubtful about Delta's piano playing ability anyway...haven't been impressed so far), and writes her own (quite brilliant) stuff! (I can't help but dispair of our current crop of Australian Idols at this point...)

So yeah...we were sitting about 6 rows from the back in the seats behind the dance floor area. Had the misfortune of having 3 quite hefty guys sitting in my line of sight, so whenever one of them moved I had to move my head too. Hehehee. But they were not bad seats- though the Enmore is pretty small so it's not like there were bad seats anywhere really.

Opening act was Nessa Morgan- great choice for the crowd! I really liked her...really rich voice, entertaining, really comfortable on the stage...I reckon opening a concert must be so hard- people aren't there for you and really don't want to see you...but on the other hand, people are already hyped up...I dunno. Regardless she did a good enough job for me to go looking for her CD today (admittedly, at Dirt Cheap CD's but still!!! hehehehehehhee).

Just before Alicia came on, they were playing Phil Collins which was rather random. But it was a really dramatic song (I dunno what it's called, they play it on Mix 106.5..."I can hear it calling in the air tonight..."), and when the song reaches its climax the lights cut and she appears on stage at the top of a staircase in the middle of the stage. The set itself was nothing special- just the staircase in the middle, the musos around it and the grand piano front-left of the stage, with the "The Diary of Alicia Keys" backdrop.

For the first few upbeat songs she was dancing. Karma was energetic and fun- and she can really shake her booty! hehehhe. She didn't really play til she did A Woman's Worth- she mixed the normal version with the remix (did one verse normal, then one verse in the remixed version).

How Come You Don't Call Me she did most of by herself on the piano and was great! In the middle she had a phone on the piano and picked up and dialled a random number and when someone picked up she immediately slammed down the phone...hehehe. I dunno whether it was real or not...I thought it would have been cooler if she rang someone in the audience! She has such a big voice (it's funny, she's not known for being a singer with a big voice) but she didn't go for that high note in this song which was a bit disappointing (though this is just me nitpicking!).

My fave song of the night was Butterflyz...I love the song, and live, it was so beautiful and tender and intimate. Had me litterally on the edge of my seat (and conveniently the seat directly in front of me was empty =). And she ended it off with Never Can Say Goodbye (which I only knew cos Chanel did it for disco night on Idol a few weeks ago!! *blushes at lack of musical knowledge*) which was so much better than Chanel's version in so many ways...
Diary was also lovely. Especially because she played the opening riff one handed backwards(!!) while she sat on the top of the grand piano! My other fave of the night was You Don't Know My Name which showcased her huge voice. And she did the mobile phone bit in the middle..."But I always use some milk and cream cause...I think you're kinda sweet..." hehehe.)

If I Ain't Got You was also lovely, but wasn't really one of the stand-outs for me.
Fallin' was a lot edgier than it comes across in the album.

Like Mayer's Horden concert last year, there was a lot of muso interludes, but in this case, there was effort to make them entertaining- there's this bit that she "conducts" which was pretty fun. Her backing singers were really strong and looked like they were having heaps of fun...she got them to do solos and stuff...they did this old school interlude thing before she came out for the encore. I would have rather she did an extra song in that time...I paid to see her, not her backing singers as entertaining as they were!!!

So yeah- overall the best part was seeing her as a live act- she is so multi-talented! I love her!! (Maybe as much as I love Christina!) Lowlights were the calibre of the tour tshirts. I went there with the intent to buy one, but they were so dodgy that even I was dissuaded (came away with a tour programme instead.) Funny...after we walked out of the theatre there was abit of a punch-up...hello! We just came out of Alicia Keys, not...I dunno, 50 cent or Marilyn Manson or something!!! Hehehehe.

Karma
Heartburn
Rock With You (a.k.a. Rock Witchoo)
A Woman's Worth
How Come You Don't Call Me?
Interlude- Nobody Not Really
Butterflyz/Never Can Say Goodbye (Chanel Cole eat your heart out!!)
If I Ain't Got You
Interlude
The Life
Streets of New York/Sydney
[Insert Old Song that I didn't know]
Interlude- Slow Down
Diary
Fallin'
(Encore) You Don't Know My Name