|
|
Setlist Encore: The final show of Whitney Houston's sold out European Tour couldn't have celebrated it's success better. Tonight's show was one of the best crowd pleasers from Whitney in a very long time. London was very ready to have a good time tonight, more so than on the previous shows at Wembley in September. I've always maintained that Whitney feeds of the energy of her audience and she did just that tonight. The show opened with Fierce, a trio of girls from the UK who sang probably two or three songs too many from their latest album. They lacked stage presence and conviction, performed to tapes rather than have a band with them on stage and much of their set was assisted with recorded choruses. Not very pleasing. Whitney took the stage around 9:20pm dressed in black sequinned pants and jacket with matching hat - from a distance, you'd be forgiven for thinking Michael Jackson had taken the stage. She was very relaxed tonight and savoured much of the evenings events. She wasn't as concerned about dance moves as the show progressed as she has been in previous shows - the focus was clearly more on vocal performance tonight and she did sound great. I've said this before, singing three album tracks to open the show tends to worry the audience but they are well placed. To get three new song 'out the way' when the audience are really excited and anticipating all the classics they will hear later on in the set makes people absorb the opening numbers. Momentum tonight kept on building even though the setlist was virtually the same as any other. The difference this time was not only the crowd being very energetic, but Whitney's own apparent energy and - more importantly - her decision not to project the impression that she wanted to get it over and done with and go home. Whitney savoured the stage, you get the impression she almost didn't want to leave. There were many hugs for her band throughout the show and she told the audience that was the order of the evening. 'Saving All My Love For You' was too far off the original to say she even sang this song. It was too fragmented. We know this is Whitney's style but I think that if she is only going to sing one verse and a chorus from it, she should have made it sound familiar to her audience. Still, it slips into 'Until You Come Back' very well and for a new song, it definitely has the audience hooked. 'I Learned From The Best' was outstanding. There was no commentary about it being her new single or any reference to it at all. The music begins, Whitney sings. The performance was stunning, vocally she was very powerful throughout. I don't recall being as impressed with a performance of this song as much as tonight. Perhaps this was her personal prelude/ rehearsal for Thursday's MTV Europe Music Awards. 'Step By Step' will always please UK audiences. It's a song that didn't get into the top ten but managed to hang around on sales and airplay charts for a long time. There was no hesitation about being on your feet. Gary Houston sounded better than I've ever heard him before. His range has clearly developed so much over the past couple of years and more so during this tour. Change The World was really a pleasure to listen to and the reaction around us was positive. Well done Gary. Whitney returns to the stage for 'My Love Is Your Love' which had the arena erupting with approval. The version of the song she performed was clearly softer than previous performances, the music was calmer and Whitney sang to suit this newest version of the song. As the song builds and extends at the end, Whitney was joined on stage by Bobby Brown who helped perform this classic number and also later by her dancers and even a couple of members of her crew - all jumping, raising the roof and singing - the energy was fantastic. She was also joined on stage by a child, I'm not sure who this was but it wasn't Bobbi Kristina and I suspect that Wembley thought it was. The tribal, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" hangs on to the momentum (even if I am not that big a fan of this version of the song) but the real crowd pleaser from the old set has to be "How Will I Know" which perhaps reassures London that 'old Whitney' hasn't been completely traded in for this newer (and personally I think better) model. The Gospel set was perhaps a bit overlong but this can be forgiven as Whitney's band introductions were the last she would do for some time. She said as much. She allowed the band to play 'solo' and introduced them individually. Open this part of the show with 'I Love The Lord', I got the impression Whitney was far too much in a party mood to want to put everything she normally puts into this song. It finishes fairly swiftly although a large portion of the classic ad-libs at the end were still there. It just didn't build up again before running into 'I Got To The Rock'. Someone must have forgotten to take Bobby Brown's mic from his hand and he used it to talk to Whitney on multiple occasions. I felt she knew when to go with it and when to retain that professional edge and not be drawn into a discussion which would effectively leave the audience feeling like a third wheel. 'Home' was the perfect addition to the set list. Very apt for what the theme of tonight's show was. The song was very well performed, fairly true to previous performances Whitney has done over the years. In taking a seat, centre stage and announcing she would perform songs from 'The Bodyguard', 'Waiting To Exhale' and 'The Preacher's Wife', it's a little bit misleading as the audience is expecting blockbuster performances. Instead, we get 'I Believe In You And Me' which is a classic but yet still fairly unknown in the UK, 'Why Does It Hurt So Bad', a song which was never released in Europe, and 'Hurts Like Hell' a cover of Aretha's song for the Waiting To Exhale soundtrack which also did not see the light of day. I couldn't tell if the audience were taking delight in Whitney's extraordinarily long rendition of 'I Will Always Love You' or just tired of her stopping the song continuously to thank everyone from her hairdresser, make up artists, caterers, road crew and bodyguards. It was quite amusing actually. The climax of the song was filled with power if not vocal excellence. Perhaps I have said that wrong. The voice was in fine form - certainly for someone who has been on the road for five months and it certainly wasn't lacking - if Whitney wanted to find a long, high note, she certainly had no problem finding it. The song ends, the standing ovation begins. Whitney really soaks in the atmosphere and roars of approval as she takes too extended 'bows' with her signature stance as well as taking her time to thank all sides of the stage. Whitney changes again for her encore of a remixed 'It's Not Right But It's Okay'. I'm not sure if this worked or not - at times, I thought even Whitney wondered whether merging the Thunderpuss 2000 remix of the song with the original version was such a good idea. It sounded a little bit cluttered at times but this is a minor point. The bigger picture here is her on-going acknowledgement of dance music and the viability of her remixes. I have to admit that for too long, I felt Whitney didn't even hear many of her remixes. Whilst this could be true of the past, it's certainly not the case with songs from 'My Love Is Your Love'. Whitney's exit from the stage was very low key - she took Bobby's hand and they walked off side stage together - no grand diva thang here. It was quite effective really. She did appear somewhat emotional at this point. Totally understandable, this woman was born to perform live on stage. She exudes presence, charm, wit, grace and humility. The tour ended perfectly. The aftershow reception (for want of a better term!) was a curious affair. It was mostly filled with Record company people (I suspect) and hangers on for the support act, Fierce. The 'room' had a bar, low ceiling and poor lighting (something which I am beginning to learn is consistent for Wembley Arena!). Bobby Brown came in for around 10-15, had a drink and posed for photographs. Whitney (clearly ready to leave wearing a hooded coat) arrived at the room only to knock the door into Bobby - she looked in, said "Excuse Me". They posed for a photograph with a child and were quickly ushered away by security. We left soon after with memories of a fantastic show and a more clear realisation that Whitney Houston is just as ordinary as the next person but with a remarkable gift. She uses that gift because it is her calling, not because she has particular designs on superstardom and overt adulation. It's been quite a year. MANISH
|
RETURN TO MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE UK TOUR REVIEWS