Leona Lewis' Labyrinth tour: O2

Having seen plenty of Leonas' live performancespre and post X-Factor via youtube, I was pretty sure that I wasn’t in for an energetic, highly choreographed show, but rather an evening of solid vocals. However, having never seen her sing more then one song in succession I wondered how she would muster the stamina for a whole show. The short answer is she kind of didn't.

It took at least 3 songs before she really hit her stride and connected with me. It was also around this point that I noticed that although she was able to deliver on the low and high head notes she did seem to be avoiding any high octave belting. Instead, she substituted those notes with its head voice equivalent or, in the case of the belting in “Can’t breath”, just not attempting any notes whatsoever. The crowd didn’t seem to mind though and were clearly enamoured with the singer from the first note, screaming and clapping wildly regardless.

The ballads in the middle tended to blur and a T-rex cover sang by her backing singers just left me perplexed, but I held on like a trooper and was rewarded by the closing half of the show.

First came a surprising and inspired cover of the Eurythmics song “Sweet Dreams”, which seemed to inspire Leona to show a bit of attitude and charisma,which succeeded in rousing the audeince to their feet without having to be asked as Leona had previously done in the show.

Then came the two gems of Leona’s repertoire. First “Run” and then an encore of “Bleeding love”. Knowing these were the two songs that the audience would know note for note both songs were sung perfectly with the high belts included. This being the case I'm guessing Leona had been smartly pacing herself throughout the early part of the show so she could shine on these signature tunes.

Coming out of the concert I ultimately felt satisfied. I could have done without the dancers and the props, which frankly cheapened the production, and would have loved to have Lewis and the beautiful lighting be the show. But it was probable Leonas' show was an attempt to silence critics who see her as just a singer. Although her voice is truly stellar its Leonas’ humility and affection for her fans that has remained with me after the show.With a few more hits under her belt she's only going to get better.



Rating: 3.5/5