More about: Jacob Collier

I can't help but wonder how many people in the audience are here because, like me, they are fans of Jacob Collier the YouTube musician extraordinaire as opposed to Jacob Collier the five, yes, FIVE-time-grammy-winning musician. Members of the latter group will likely have had an inkling what they were in for at Jacob Collier's homecoming gig in London last night. Perhaps shamefully, I did not. I was in for a treat.

On YouTube, Collier's talent comes across somewhat quietly. Confident and extremely adept, yes, but calm and measured. On stage however, he is an ecstatic explosion of technicolor. I hear some of the most beautiful harmonies I've ever heard in my life... and that's just from the audience, conducted expertly by Collier with just a wave of his arms. He controls the crowd as if they're just another instrument in his weird and wonderful musical toolkit.

The lighting — so often overlooked in concerts today despite the vast technological advances afforded by the 21st century — appears just as accomplished a musician as every member of the band. Furious blasts of colour interject rhythmically into the performance, rendering the stage as a kaleidoscopic maelstrom which one can only imagine resembles the inside of Collier's mind. It's like tumbling headfirst into a whirlpool of parallel musical universes.

And the band, my word, the band! Emily Elbert is a sublime substitution for Lianne La Havas on ‘Feel’. As sultry and silky smooth as the original, expanded and embellished for the stage. Bryn Bliska does things with her synthesiser rig and keyboard which I'm not sure should even be possible. It sounds fantastic. Christian Euman's drums are, in Collier's own words, infused with the essence of the rest of the band. More than just a beat-keeper, Euman's percussion is a living, breathing embodiment of the rich musical flavour on offer, and a force to be reckoned with. 

Jacob Collier breaks all the rules of popular music. Time signatures? Doesn't need 'em. Key signatures? Use 'em all. Even the 12 notes of the musical scale are no constraint for Collier as he does what so much Western music is too rigid to do by exploring the microtonal, expertly modulating his voice and his instruments to the notes between notes that add sugar and spice to his already delicious music.

Songs like 'Hideaway' offer breathing space and serenity amidst the otherwise bombastic performance. They give Collier a chance to demonstrate his versatility and his raw talent with the instruments in his vast arsenal. He redefines the term 'multi-instrumentalist' by playing every instrument on stage in the course of one song; one of the highlights of which is his one-of-a-kind vocal harmoniser, the brainchild of MIT alum Ben Bloomberg. The seemingly magic piece of kit transforms Jacob's lone voice into a majestic choir. At points it sounds like a spaceship ready to blast off into the stratosphere.

So much of the set is cinematic, and theatrical. This is music that really hits you hard and makes you truly feel. Even when he plays an apparently un-learned, un-prepared, and un-rehearsed rendition of Ella Fitzgerald's 'Foggy Day in London Town' (you mightn't believe this claim from any other musician but with Jacob Collier it's hardly surprising), you are hit with the full force of the song's heart and soul. He's not playing the song, he's living it.

Jacob is joined by two guests in quick succession; his mum, and Stormzy. Naturally. If there was any doubt that music ran in the Collier family's genes then that doubt is quickly dispelled as Suzie Collier adds a beautiful violin layer to the musical cake that is her son's off-the-cuff jazz standard. Stormzy, somehow getting a smaller cheer than Jacob's mum, is an instantly likeable presence, adding an undeniable London flavour to the otherwise world-wide musical menagerie of the performance.

Before ending the set, Collier takes the time to lovingly thank each member of his band and crew, showering them with well-deserved praise. At the end of their four month-long world tour, there is no sense of fatigue or burnout, just a spell-binding, jaw-dropping, musical tour de force.

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More about: Jacob Collier