Often referred to as the Princess of Soul, Alicia Keys is an R&B/soul singer, songwriter and pianist. Having sold over 26 million copies of her first three albums Songs in A Minor, The Diary Of Alicia Keys, and As I am, Keys released her fourth album titled The Element of Freedom, in December 2009. The accompanying Element of Freedom Tour brought Alicia Keys to the O2 in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday the 21st of May 2010. I was there, at this sold-out, two-hour show in a packed O2 stadium.
Love is Blind served as an excellent opener to the show with some pretty visual effects. The audience was really, really getting into it when she played Fallin’. You could tell Alicia noticed the crowd’s energy and she would return the favor; She put on a great show and was certainly enjoying herself. The background singers seemed to be having a great evening too!
After Fallin’, the show definitely got started and pretty much everyone was up on their feet during her upbeat songs (remember, it was an all-seated concert). Halfway through the show, when she was behind the piano, her dazzling talents truly shone through. However, I don’t agree with most other reviews that she should just stick to being a soul queen behind the piano.
For me, the best of the show was saved for last, my highlights were If I Ain’t Got You, Doesn’t Mean Anything, and No One, after which the background vocalists stayed on stage in the dark (!) singing No One’s oh oh oh oooh with the audience until the encore: ‘Empire State of Mind’. The concert ended a bit abruptly when she thanked the crowd and walked off stage, or, perhaps I’m just used to longer encores.
To summarise, a wonderful performance by Alicia and an energetic crowd made it a night to remember!
Setlist:
- Caged Bird (Intro)
- Love Is Blind
- You Don’t Know My Name
- Fallin’
- Another Way to Die
- Karma
- Let Me Play for You
- Pray for Forgiveness
- Diary
- Keep a Child Alive
- If I Ain’t Got You
- Like You’ll Never See Me Again
- Wait Til You See My Smile
- Feeling Good (background vocalist)
- Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart
- Superwoman
- Unthinkable (I’m Ready)
- Doesn’t Mean Anything
- No One
- Empire State of Mind
All of the following photos were taken with a Sony Cyber-shot T77. A real concert camera, but I hate its handling. However, I must admit, the results are pretty impressive.