More about: Laura Mvula

A small fire at Village Underground earlier this week forced a last-minute change of venue for Laura Mvula's sold-out gig on Thursday evening. This didn't stop her performance at the Islington Assembly Hall being absolute *fire emoji*, though (sorry-not-sorry). 

After eighteen careful and joy-free months, this was the artist's first concert post-lockdown and boy, did it set a high bar. Punchy synths and poppy melodies from opener BEKA got the crowd cheering. For her second ever live concert, the Nottingham local even threw in an audience acapella to really throw people back into the deep end of social interaction after one and a half years stuck in a cupboard Harry-Potter-style. 

After a tantalising wait, Laura Mvula emerges from the smoke and takes centre stage in full power-stance. Candy pink keytar and a matching sequined jacket: iconic. 'Safe Passage' is the opening track. Epic, with a rich, smoky bassline and shimmering synths plucked straight outta the '80s. 'Conditional' matches the pace with another heavy, punchy bassline that gets everyone moving. 

'Church Girl' is a song, once again, straight from the song books of '80s power pop, elevated with Mvula's intense, soulful vocals. She commands the room effortlessly, strutting across the stage with buckets of swagger. 'Sing to the Moon' delivers a delightfully glitchy clicktrack melody beneath an expansive songscape. It comes as a thematic breather before 'Remedy'; a powerful musical sermon that cathartically summarises the hurt and the hope of 2020's intense civil rights movement. It is sad, defiant and an electrifying reminder of the human impact of a social revolution and the events that inspired it. 

Before the prescribed pre-encore will-they-won't-they, Laura Mvula ends her set with an impassioned tribute to her band, her team and her fans. It's always a pleasure to see an artist so overjoyed to be performing their music live and so gracious for the people around them who bring their musical vision to life. Having said that, she can thank all the people she wants, but it was Laura herself who stole the show tonight. 

More about: Laura Mvula