Fire Station, Sunderland
Monday, 11th November 2024
For those who are familiar with Julia Fordham’s voice they will know how wonderful it is. Yes, there are more powerful singers in the annals of music history but her style is not about belting out songs so that they ring in the ears. Instead she has an emotive voice that resonates of, both good or bad, life experiences and delivers songs which echo in the heart.
Over the decades I have seen her many times and, to date, she has never disappointed and this was no exception. There was the perfect balance of new songs, from her Earth Mate album, some songs from her more recent back catalogue and a decent number of her better known, popular, live standards that fans love and expect. The balance seemed to be about right so that she could demonstrate her less familiar songs with those that people recognised straight away.
Starting off with the sublime Lock & Key, from her 1989 Porcelain album, Julia demonstrated how she meant to go on and each song was delivered in such a way that it made me feel that she had experienced my life and was revealing my heartaches to the world. Well, maybe not the song Girlfriend, which is my favourite Julia Fordham song which paints a vivid picture of the heartache of a woman involved with a man who is involved with someone else, but I am sure you get the idea, she has a beautifully expressive voice.
There was a brief history of the genesis of some of the songs which added to the audience experience, especially Earth Mate, the title track from her latest album, about a relationship that didn’t work out but led to her having a daughter, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. Along with the song Invisible War which became a big hit in the Philippines and was adopted as an anti-oppression anthem there. I always find it interesting when a random song by an artist becomes an unexpected hit abroad, for initially seemingly inexplicable reasons, and this was no exception.
Those songs, along with classics like Porcelain, Comfort of Strangers, Where Does the Time Go and Love Moves in Mysterious Ways left me wanting more.
But let us not forget that it wasn’t just Julia, it was a team effort and her choice of band was good as they complimented her voice perfectly, framing it like an aural work of art. At times it was unobtrusive playing, then they were akin to jazz nightclub giving us torch songs and others they were well up to the task of upping the tempo and having the audiences swaying in their seats. It would not be fair to highlight one of the band as being outstanding as they all seemed to be equally talented and when it came to their time to shine, and make Julia shine even brighter, they didn’t disappoint.
A wonderful concert with only one downside, it didn’t last long enough and, if it were up to me, I’d have been happy for her to play a lot longer than her 2 hour set but, apparently she had not been well so I shouldn’t be greedy and she needed to be able to complete the rest of her tour.
SET LIST
Lock & Key
A Few Too Many
Cocooned
Comfort of Strangers
Girlfriend
Porcelain
Earth Mate
My Old Table
Minor Victories
– Interval –
My Lovers Keeper
Genius
Home
Invisible War
Where Does The Time Go
Love Moves in Mysterious Ways
~ Encore:
Happy Ever After
Stay – Behind Closed Doors
MUSICIANS
Vocals – Julia Fordham
Guitar – Jon Wright
Keyboards – Spencer Cozens
Drums – Miles Bould
Bass – Scott Firth
LINKS
Julia Fordham – Website | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram