In town to promote her third album The Real Thing, Philadelphia sensation Jill Scott proved herself a genuine soul diva with a night of soaring vocals and sassy rhyming, but failed to do justice to her back catalogue.
The album's rock-tinged title track and smooth classic, The Way, got the crowd in the mood, then the singer slowed things down further with a set of seductive grooves, coming over all Donna Summer on the freaky Epiphany and licking her lips throughout the fabulously innuendo-laden Crown Royal (it's a kind of whisky).
This was Scott at her mischievous best - coyly biting her bottom lip or primping her magnificent afro as she waxed lyrical about her love life. Later, she over-egged the pudding in the run-up to Celibacy Blues (following her divorce earlier this year, she's "sorta single"), but, for the most part, the honey-coated speaking voice of this former performance poet was as seductive as her singing.
The atmosphere was buzzing when the band played the intro to A Long Walk, probably Scott's best-known hit, but up until the key change it was a disappointingly subdued affair. The defiant Hate On Me got things back on track but she briefly lost the crowd with an extended version of the unremarkable My Love.
She saved a few old favourites for the encore, including the magnificent It's Love and the bouncy Golden. There was no Gettin' in the Way or Love Rain, but He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat) was re-visited. Originally written for her now ex-husband, Scott has transformed the soaring love song into a kind of extended operatic lament, making for a remarkable end to a steamy evening with a hugely talented artist.
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