I had the good fortune to catch Imelda May's gig at London's Borderline club on Tuesday night to launch her latest single. She was fantastic. The Borderline is a fairly small "cellar" club which has hosted many big names whose photo's adorn the walls on the way in; I hope Imelda's will soon be up there amongst them - she certainly wouldn't be out of place.
Although the gig was to promote her new single and a precursor to the new album ("later this year"), the playlist contained many of the tracks from her previous CD to the obvious delight of the full house and the intimate atmosphere of the club really turned the evening in to something special, with Imelda talking to the audience between numbers, inviting audience participation on numbers such as Tainted Love and taking time out to say "hi" to old friends she spotted amongst the crowd.
First rate backing by her band as usual, with all band members getting the chance to show their stuff - I love to see a band allowed to express themselves and step out of the star's limelight. The man on the Gretsch (yes, Darrel played nearly the full set using his old 6120) was in fine form, as were the rest of the guys (Al Gare, Bass; Steve Rushton, drums; Dave Priseman, ttrumpet). Rising above all of them, though, Imelda's voice and vocal range is stunning, whether on hard edged R&B numbers, bluesy ballads or rockabilly and effortlessly switching between styles. The new single, Psycho, was naturally given an airing and sounded even better live than on the video I'd seen - it's released today and just in case anyone thinks she has turned her back on rockabilly, note the 'B' side - My Baby Left Me, which she also sang (along with an excellent version of 'The Train Kept A Rollin').
Here's hoping the new single gets the airtime it deserves and increases her popularity.
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