Lisa Stansfield at the London Palladium – review

(Photo: Ed Fielding)

Hitting the road to promote a new album, Deeper, that’s every bit as good as everything she’s done before, Lisa Stansfield brought the UK leg of her 2018 tour to a triumphant close at a sold-out London Palladium show that saw her mixing new songs and older tunes to brilliant effect.

There were lots of tracks from Deeper which – when they’re as catchy as the title track and ‘Never Ever’ or as heart-tearing as big ballad ‘Hole In My Heart’ or as slinky as her cover version of soul staple ‘Ghetto Heaven’ – was fine with me.

But it was the older hits that brought the crowd to its feet: ‘The Real Thing’, ‘People Hold On’, ‘What Did I Do To You?’ and the almighty ‘All Around The World’, the latter seeing her smile from ear to ear at the enthusiastic audience singalong.

Quieter moments came by way of a lovely acoustic version of ‘So Natural’ and a pitch-perfect ‘All Woman’, although given the belt the 52-year-old singer’s voice still delivers her quiet moments would be others’ deafening ones.

(Photo: Ed Fielding)

For someone who has made some of the best dance music in British chart history, Stansfield isn’t much of a dancer herself. Nor does the deep transatlantic soul of her vocals chime with her very-Manchester banter. But it’s the way her voice soars while Lisa herself remains as down-to-earth as they come that makes her so loveable.

Closing the show with a mash-up of her own ‘Live Together’ with the classic ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, she’s still going strong nearly three decades into a brilliant career.

Here’s to album number nine – and the next tour.

Rating: 5/5