Live Review: Alison Moyet – 15th October 2013 – Royal Festival Hall, London, UK

Alison Moyet, possibly best known for her album Alf – one of a small elite group of albums that is in just about every record collection the world over. Moyet is now touring her new album The Minutes, which combines her classic 80’s sound with the more modern musical sounds that have come to rise during her long musical career.

I went to see Alison Moyet at the Royal Festival Hall where she was supported by the immensely talented Richard Walters. Walters came on stage alone at first, playing two songs with just his guitar and vocals, one of which was dedicated to his future wife. After these two songs Walters was joined on stage by a cello player, adding a new level to the already hauntingly beautiful music that he was creating. After playing another three songs with the continuing theme of love, loss, and loss of love –  Richard Walters thanked the audience and left the stage, beginning the interval before Moyet began her set.

By the time the interval had passed the Festival Hall was completely packed and the place was buzzing like a beehive poked with a stick as the audience waited for Moyet to come on stage. Eventually the lights dimmed and the building erupted with applause and cheering as Alison’s two instrumentalists entered the stage, closely followed by Moyet. Once Alison took up her position centre stage, she was hidden in a great orange glow as she and her band began a song from the new album, the song was titled Horizon Flame. After this track Moyet went to one of her older songs from her Yazoo days called Nobody’s Diary. The rapid switches between old and new became a theme for the night, with Alison and her instrumentalists switching skilfully between retro and modern style songs, making both equally appeal to the awe-struck audience with constant technical skill.

I think that part of this awe was also caused by the impressive way that the musicians were set up on stage – with only Moyet and two others, one of whom played piano and guitar; and another who switched between playing drum and melody loops as well as playing guitar and singing. The fullness of sound created by this was impressive to say the least, and only added to the magic that was already there on stage.

Alison Moyet is more than recognisable for her versatility in music, and she seemed determined to prove that at the Royal Festival Hall. She played tracks that ranged from ballads like Is This Love, to what Alison herself described as “a saucy little number” in the form of Right As Rain and even a few songs that could be described as dubstep such as Changeling.

My highlights of the night came with the classics that Moyet reinvented, getting the crowd standing and dancing (even in the booths on the walls of the theatre) to such classics as Situation and Don‘t Go. These tracks seemed to me like they could never be improved, but the new feelings brought to them with the heavier beats and more dramatic synth lines left no one a choice as to whether dancing was going to happen.

I feel that Alison Moyet is a testament to the fact that music is ever evolving, and that you can only get left behind if you let yourself fall behind – neither of which has happened to Moyet. She has done nothing but write songs that just keep on getting better in styles that have been changing constantly around her – and has come out of it as a true icon of music – this tour and her new album are only another layer of icing (on the already very well iced) cake that represents her skill as a musician.

Set List:

1 – Horizon Flame
2 – Nobody’s Diary
3 – When I Was Your Girl
4 – Ordinary Girl
5 – Remind Yourself
6 – Is This Love?
7 – Winter Kills
8 – Filigree
9 – Falling
10 – A PLace To Stay
11 – Only You
12 – Apple Kisses
13 – Changeling
14 – This House
15 – All Signs Of Life
16 – Right As Rain
17 – Love Resurrection
18 – Situation

Encore:

19 – Whispering Your Name
20 – All Cried Out
21 – Don’t Go

Nick Roberts

::: covering the latest live events in London (UK) for RenownedForSound.com