1extra presents john legend
A few weeks back London’s Bloomsbury Ballroom was revealed as the location of John Legend’s secret concert for BBC’s 1Extra. A select few competition winners and industry heads queued round the block, eagerly awaiting a rare and intimate performance from the award winning singer/songwriter. Having previously performed solo for 1Extra at the Jazz cafe before he made real chart success, it was interesting to see how much had changed since then. Legend, in his last appearance was accompanied simply by his voice and a piano; now he was joined by a live band and a trio of backing singers.
After a couple of premature introductions Legend finally burst onto the stage with a powerful rendition of ‘Used to Love You’. John then cycled through a couple of his more recognisable tracks from ‘Get Lifted’, before performing a few tracks from his latest album ‘Evolver’. In particular, ‘Green Light’; an infectious collaboration with Andre 3000 (with an enthusiastic backing singer doing an admittedly decent Andre impression).
Legend eventually settled into a more intimate zone, by performing solo the track ‘Good Morning’, a langorous ode to the romantic lie-in, and an acoustic rendition of ‘Ordinary People,’ an obvious crowd favourite. Arguably the highlight of the night, Legend smoothly worked his way through the Grammy award winning song whilst all in attendance joined him in chorus. Ironically, Legend ended the performance with ‘Stay With You,’ and promptly left, oblivious to calls for an encore.
An impressive performance, as was expected, but disappointingly it felt as if John Legend was overshadowed by the pomp and grandstanding of the live band and backing singers. Legend is at his best showcasing his incredibly powerful yet refined voice, and like anything of quality, perhaps it is best left to display its qualities on its own.
