George HaffendenThis may be her fourth UK tour since she first said ‘Farewell’ a decade ago, but Knight remains one of the greatest vocalists around
The often challenging part of being into music created 40-50 years ago is that when a legend tours, you can never be too sure if they’ll still sound good. For example, I love Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, but he hasn’t been able to sing well for decades (doesn’t stop me forking out each time he tours, mind).
But with Gladys Knight, there’s no need to worry: she may be 78 but she sounds like she’s about 38. Her incredible voice has lost nothing of the power and tone that made her one of the greatest vocalists in music. Whatever her secret is, she should definitely think about sharing it with some of her contemporaries.
This was the second of two shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and the final night of Knight’s UK tour. After the opening act of Mark Kingswood (a crooner who perhaps was unsuited to open for a soul legend, but tried hard) Knight appeared on stage dressed in black, complete with gold sparkly leggings and incredibly high heels.
The set was largely similar to previous UK tours: she opened with a blistering rendition of ‘Baby Don’t Change Your Mind’, before knocking out superb versions of ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me’, ‘Love Overboard’ and ‘Use My Imagination’.
The hits come thick and fast. She races through her greatest hits set, backed by her incredibly tight backing band and vocalists, while her voice glides effortlessly through her songbook. Knight seemed a little unsteady on her feet – either she has mobility issues now, or her shoes were just too high. Still a diva must look the part, even if they’re knocking on a bit.
Meanwhile, up in the cheap seats (well, I say cheap, they were 70 quid) in front of us, there was a commotion during ‘Come Back and Finish What You Started’, as a couple were forcibly removed by security. Clearly either pissed or high (or possibly both), the woman was carried out alongside her partner after, I assume, annoying people around them. Several rows back we could hear them making a fuss. What a waste of ticket and travel money, but thanks to the security the rest of us were allowed to watch the rest of the show in peace.
And thank god they did chuck them out, because when you get to witness a voice like Gladys Knight you really need to hear it all. Fine, singalong a bit, but why drown out one of the greatest vocalists to have walked the planet? Especially as she sounds so good, all these years later.
She sounded best on the slower numbers, the evening’s highlights. Particularly ‘Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)’ and ‘Licence To Kill’, her eighties Bond-era theme. It’s on these that Knight takes it up a notch, and she’s still able to reach those high notes. All those decades performing has had seemingly very little negative impact on her singing ability.
Her shows are rarely super long, but this time Knight rattled through most of her greatest hits (with a few notable exceptions) in the first hour. I was slightly alarmed that she played ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’ after just an hour on stage; would this be it?
Thankfully not, although the last 20 minutes was a more laid back affair, which ended the night on a rather sedate note than had she finished on something everyone knew (the last 3 times I’ve seen her, she’s ended with ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’).
Not this time, though. Instead we went on a rambling medley of ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘We Are The Champions’, before a long (but actually quite brilliant) Worship Medley of gospel songs.
Knight is a religious woman, a dedicated Mormon, and no qualms about adding some gospel into the show – she sounded phenomenal, as did her trio of background singers – but it did the show on a rather odd note. This section should have preceded ‘Midnight’.
Every time I’ve seen her perform, Knight always does a few covers: the first I saw her she covered The Jacksons, the second she did a great version of Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’. But this time it was to the detriment of the show overall, and meant hits like ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’ or ‘If I Were Your Woman’ where noticeably absent, as well her disco hits ‘Taste of Bitter Love’ and ‘Bourgie Bourgie’.
Perhaps she’s had enough of singing certain songs, and some of those disco numbers are pretty fast. You could hardly blame her for that.
Then with her worship medley complete, Knight was assisted off stage, and that was it. No encore for us.
The band did hang around for a minute, teasing us that the Empress of Soul would return, but as the houselights went up it was clear we were getting no more. The old showbiz trick: always leave them wanting more.
At nearly 80, Gladys sounds better than almost any of peers (certainly better than Diana Ross, but then Knight could always out sing the Motown queen). Her voice is still powerful, her tone still gorgeous.
Yet, as with all of the recent concerts we’ve been to recently of older artists (Dionne, Diana, Mavis), the evening ended on a bittersweet note: will this be the last time I see her perform?
Of course, selfishly, we hope not. But the men and women of the sixties and seventies cannot continue forever, no matter how they may try. Unlike her contemporaries however, if this the end, Knight went out one last time sounding as good as she did all those decades ago. How lucky are we.