More about: Erykah-Badu

Inside the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on the night of November 5th, neo-soul pioneer Erykah Badu delivered a 90 minute set, far more dazzling spectacle than any firework display outside. A mixed bag of faces fill the room, with a fair few Saturday night semi-drunks attending, making their presence known throughout the evening by shouting out slurred heckles of adoration for the singer in-between every tune. 

The show commences with a drum-off between Erykah’s 2 drummers, one slaying on the bongos and the other putting his whole upper body into his drum kit, instantly waking up the crowd. 

Without further Badu (sorry I had to), the singer steps out in the most eccentric Erykah Badu-esque way, almost resembling the movement of a praying mantis, met with a roar of cheers form the crowd.  Her whacky silhouette takes centre stage, made up of a tall, wide brimmed hat, long fur coat and trousers with huge puffed tassels, an outfit only to be described as the anti-thesis of casual. She greets the room, starting her set with ‘Hello’, and without time to waste, breaks into ‘On & On’, of course followed by, ‘…& On’.  The iconic pulsing intro sounds out and everyone immediately gets up on their feet, neglecting their seats for the remainder of the night, even the lady next to me with a walking stick.

From then on the set lists off her discography, playing favourites including ‘Love Of My Life’ and ‘Other Side of the Game’ as she transforms the festival hall into the spaceship ‘Badu-batron’ - as she dodges lasers and creates glitchy, tuning sounds, hums and breaths in-between each song.

Strangely, as the gig was advertised to be a 25th Anniversary Special for her (incredible) Baduizm album, I was expecting a lot more of these tracks to be played - a gaping hole for me, with the absence of of ‘Next Lifetime’ and my all time favourite ‘Appletree’. Though, these gaps are only really noticed hours after the set, testifying to the brilliance of Badu, as she fills a 90 minute set with every track played being instantly recognisable. After having a cheeky look at setlist.fm before (I know, its a nasty habit spoiling a setlist for myself, but I can’t help it!!), the singer does seem to vary her setlist and order every night - a trick too often missed in the way new artists carefully curate their nights to a T, taking away the uniqueness of an evening. 

A strange rendition of 'Phone Down’ has the room a little puzzled, with heavy vocal distortion added to the track, whether intended or not, it flirts with the sound of a cat being strangled. 

It serves as a semi-ironic moment of the night, as the rest of the set consistently leaves the audience in complete awe of the singer’s vocal talent, which hasn’t wavered one bit - 25 years years on from the release of her debut album. Preaching to “mind your business”, she closes the night with a drawn out performance of ‘Window Seat’ with a well-timed encore during the “Come back baby… come back” interlude part of the track, as everyone sings along beckoning her return.

She comes back on to sign off with the brilliant ‘Green Eyes’ and ‘Didn’t Cha Know’ off her 2000 album Mama’s Gun, sending the Erykah Badu cult into the rainy evening, with their hearts full and souls fed. 

Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.

More about: Erykah-Badu