Live Review: Rumer – Thursday 24th May 2012 – St James Church Piccadilly, London, UK
3 min read
On the hottest day of the year so far as Londoners chillaxed with Frappuccino’s outside central London coffee shops or laid back barefoot in Hyde Park a bunch of music aficionados took in some of the summer vibe with the UK’s favourite sultry crooner, Rumer, who took to the quaint setting of Piccadilly’s St James Church last night.
Nestled within a small Market space between Piccadilly Circus and Green Park stations the venue gradually filled in anticipation of the star who is on the cusp of releasing her highly anticipated sophomore record, Boys Don’t Cry.
With the record out on Monday it would only seem right for the singer to tease us a little with songs from the release – as if we needed any persuasion to go out and buy the new album, right?
Donning a beautiful black lace number Rumer glided on stage at 9pm to a room consisting of mainly London fans for an evening of soft balladry at it’s finest.
Singing a collection of refreshed golden oldies that makes up Rumer’s latest collection we were treated to a performance of new songs from the Boys Don’t Cry track listing with sweet precision. The records lead single P.F Sloan shone in the early half of the set and held its place as the evenings most upbeat moment as did the southern flavored Soulsville which allowed the horn section to really shine and was most fitting song for the singers smooth textured harmonies within the church setting as she joined her backing singers as they belted out a tracks double “Hallelujah” toward the end of the song.
Each set inclusion was ushered in by an anecdote giving either some history to the track which the singer confessed to knowing very little about but as an artist enjoys the learning, or a personal tale of discovery before turning out more pitch perfect and finely tuned vocal artistry.
The venue chosen to showcase the singers new material seemed to have not been given the attention that it deserved with a lot of the crowd, including myself, struggling to find a position within the venue where visibility was possible due to the high or awkwardly set out seating or wide beams causing restricted view in many spots. The sound also began rather shaky throughout the balcony seats though seemed to have been adjusted to a significantly clearer quality several songs in allowing us to hear the singers pristine tones in more of a higher definition.
Among the new additions to Rumer’s repertoire the singer offered us the highlight incisions from her debut, Seasons Of My Soul.
Aretha got the crowd well and truly warmed up while Am I Forgiven added another semi up-tempo injection to the night.
During the set the singer was given a big applause after telling us that she is in the middle of writing new material for her next album. She went on to explain that the latest record was recorded as a gift to fans and to help fill in the lengthy time between the singers self penned recordings.
Rumer ended her set with the gentle, piano and harmony led Man Needs A Maid for which she was given a standing ovation, clearly leaving the star looking taken back and emotional as she thanked the crowd.
Of course no Rumer performance would be complete without her signature hit, Slow, which the singer used as her encore before leaving the stage to a further standing ovation and deafening applause.
Set list:
Travellin Boy
It Could Be The First Day
P.F Sloan
Flyin’ Shoes
Just For A Moment
Soulsville
Sarah Smile
Am I Forgiven
My Cricket
Be Nice To Me
Aretha
Slow
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
