It’s been 12 years since Alicia Keys released her huge debut record Songs In A Minor. While she has remained one of RnB’s biggest megastars, in recent years she has successfully kept a relatively low profile – choosing instead to focus her energy on other endeavours, such as her job as creative director for the mobile phone company, Blackberry.
An RnB superstar in his own right, John Legend fired up the (mostly female) audience at Rod Laver with his vocal acrobatics and powerful performance. His band lent a massive funk, hip-hop groove to the music that contrasted nicely with the star’s solo stand-out moments involving just Legend and his Baby Grand, including an unexpected cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing In The Dark’.
Legend craftily saved his current Australian number one hit ‘All Of Me’ for the encore, launching the entire stadium to their feet to dance and sing along.
As Alicia Keys’ crew of male backing dancers swept onstage amidst CGI scenes of New York City, it was obvious that the night would be more of a production than just a performance. Opening with some older tracks such as ‘Karma’ and ‘You Don’t Know My Name’ from her second studio album The Diary Of Alicia Keys, the American artist alternated between heartfelt pianist, bootylicious frontwoman, and actress in a scene that involved asking a boy on a date via fake phone-call.
While her vocal control and piano skills were undeniable, Keys also relied heavily on her band, who managed to give old numbers a jammed-out feel as well as switching effortlessly between soul and hip-hop flavours. Her bassist spent the set alternating between bass guitar and synth while her guitarist brought a serious heavy-rock feel to ‘A Woman’s Worth’.
Surprisingly, Keys’ talented backing vocalists hit most of the big notes for her, highlighting the fact that maybe her own vocal range has diminished with time. However, the singer’s emotional rendition of the hit ‘Fallin’’ saw the return of her powerhouse voice.
There was no overplayed finale, nor desperate chant for an encore – instead, it was obvious to all what was missing from the set. The music to ‘Girl On Fire’ exploded onto the stage with Keys playing a booming beat on drums while the crowd screamed in appreciation for her latest anthem.
After disappearing briefly, the singer returned to the stage for one last time. Having shed her booty pants in favour of a sparkling purple gown, and with her son Egypt in tow, she delivered the Grammy Award winning ‘Empire State Of Mind’ with Jay-Z rapping his pre-recorded intro via the big screen. Unfortunately ‘Empire State of Mind’ is more of a Jay-Z song, with Keys mostly just singing the chorus.
In ‘Brand New Me’, Keys explained how we should all try to understand and love the brand new kind of her, that people change and we should all just do our best to understand. And granted, her music has changed a lot – some might say for the better – but unfortunately the show seemed to lack something. As entertaining as the whole set was, Keys’ strong, emotive delivery that features so prominently on her records was drowned out at times by the whole production.
