Lianne La Havas is all smiles on a rainy Tuesday night in Montreal. The British songstress manages to totally charm the crowd of mostly seated concert goers with a mix of songs from her two superb albums. Those songs span the spectrum of folk and soul from the gently building chords of Green & Gold through the blissful chill of Wonderful to the edgy bite of Forget.
Throughout the evening, La Havas ably demonstrates what an extraordinary talent she is. Her voice is effortless perfection, full of soul and soaring through the high notes with ease. For the majority of the set, she also plucks away at her guitar, sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric, sometimes bass, and, if you pay attention, you’ll recognise she’s an accomplished musician as well as vocalist. All the while she exudes a likability and easiness that has her audience besotted.
The breezy Au Cinema is tweaked to include a little of Pharrell’s Happy. It works beautifully too. The set switched between older material and songs from her new album, Blood, and never loses your interest for a second.
“I’m gonna get a little intimate with you” she whispers into the microphone before Wonderful. As faultless as her band are, the moments where it’s just Lianne and an acoustic guitar are the ones that really take your breath away. The “cheeky” Tease Me follows before her band return for the beautiful ballad, Lost & Found.
“I love you Montreal” she says. “You’re lovely!” Her British accent seems to make this statement sound all the more authentic and her fans make it clear the feeling is mutual. Unstoppable is a real highlight in the set, growing from gentle guitar to a empowering jam allowing La Havas to showcase that voice to its fullest.
It’s difficult to not love La Havas. She exudes humility, smiles incessantly and, wearing a tight-fitting black dress (she asked her Twitter followers what she should wear earlier in the day), she’s elegant and beautiful. You get the distinct feeling she’d be great company in some London pub on a Sunday afternoon. It’s no wonder she’s won over fans from the likes of Paloma Faith and Prince (she’s duetted with both).
A three song encore brings the evening to a fine conclusion. During Age she changes the lyrics to “I fancy Canadian men”, receiving a roar of approval from the crowd. Ghost takes things down one last time before an energetic Forget has La Havas letting loose and banging her head along with the beat. A quick selfie with the crowd, yet more smiles and she bids us farewell.
Setlist:
Green and Gold
Is Your Love Big Enough?
Au Cinema (with the verse of Pharrell’s ‘Happy’)
What You Don’t Do
Wonderful
Tease Me
No Room For Doubt
Lost & Found
Unstoppable
Grow
Midnight
Elusive
Never Get Enough
Tokyo
Encore:
Age
Ghost
Forget
Review & photos – Steve Gerrard
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