Ee by gum, yon Lancashire lass can really belt out those r & b vocals, but can she whip the audience into a rock 'n' roll frenzy? It would seem not, judging from Lisa Stansfield's rather tame performance at the Point on Saturday night. The North Country soul diva did at least get the crowd up on its feet, and though her fans showed a respectable level of enthusiasm, Ms Stansfield didn't manage to take them higher. Wearing a yellow trouser suit and a pair of black wedgies, Ms Stansfield commanded the attention with her strong, perfectly-enunciated vocals, while her two backing singers provided supreme support. The band was competent - tight enough to maintain a solid r & b structure, and loose enough to seem like they were having fun. All very fine and well-rounded, but the show could have done with a few rough edges, just to break up the smooth predictability of it all.
There's no denying that Stansfield can hold her own with the great women of pop, but there's no getting away from the suspicion that she may be closer to the clinical soul of Celine Dion than to the raw r & b of Tina Turner. Her big hit singles, Change, Around The World and The Real Thing went down a storm (actually, more of a flurry), while Don't Cry For Me, All Woman, and In All The Right Places showed Stansfield in a strong, softly focused light. I had hoped Stansfield would knock us dead with some killer Northern Soul, but I was disappointed - what this show really needed was a bit of eckythump.
