Royal Festival Hall, London
"I'd like to play you a country song now," says kd lang, drawing a predictable cheer from her more old-school fans. "It's by one of the all-time country greats ? Talking Heads!" she continues, firing into a pedal-steel guitar reworking of the former New York art-rockers' irony-laden Heaven.
She may be an incorrigible tease, but lang has recently returned to her country-music roots. Recorded in Nashville, her new album Sing It Loud not only sees her re-embrace the twang after years of sophisticated adult rock, but has also triggered her first tour as part of a band since she disbanded the Reclines 20 years ago.
She introduces the Siss Boom Bang as "The men that changed my life", and certainly their presence looks to have re-energised her. Lang is a beaming and ebullient figure tonight, easing her spectacular and pitch-perfect voice into every corner of Miss Chatelaine and winning a standing ovation for an understated yet mesmerising reading of Cohen's Hallelujah.
Tellingly, she plays every track from Sing It Loud, an album devoted to the vagaries of the human heart. Her sultry throb of a vocal is desire incarnate on I Confess and the sublime sigh of A Sleep with No Dreaming, while her mood of vivacious defiance on the out-and-proud title track is infectious enough for her to get away with some hypnotically ungainly dancing.
Her grin is still glued to her face as she returns to encore with the soulful pledge of devotion Sugar Buzz, testifying as she clutches her temples and paces the stage, then she gathers the Siss Boom Bang around a mic like a jug band for banjo-driven hoedown Pay Dirt. kd lang's mojo has clearly been firmly relocated.
Aubrey ODay Drew Barrymore Marley Shelton Thalía Brooke Burke
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