Photo by Michelle da Silva
On Monday night, Alicia Keys did her second show in Vancouver as part of the As I Am tour and I was lucky enough to be there. To say I have a kindergarten crush on this girl is a mad understatement. The crowd was packing into the Orpheum Theatre and while that was going on we were treated to a performance by Jermaine Paul, who we would later come to find out is also one of Alicia’s backup singers. He actually sang quite beautifully, but it was difficult to hear it all with the crowd coming in and shuffling to their seats.
The lights go down. A few moments later the band is playing the instrumental for “Go Ahead”, a few seconds later and Miss Keys appears on stage and the crowd erupted. One word that can only really describe this woman, BEAUTIFUL! Black sequin dress with sparkles, black leggings and heels. I nearly lost my mind; in fact I forgot to take notes for a moment on the show as I was so mesmerized by her voice and beauty. Definitely got chills as she was singing. From there she transitioned into “You Don’t Know My Name”, she was being backed up by a 7 piece band with 3 backup singers. She definitely was electrifying the crowd as she moved along the stage and danced. As my home girl Michelle noted it was very Beyonce-esque. As “You Don’t Know My Name” ended, her two female back-up singers joined her front and centre forming a triangle and going into “Teenage Love Affair” and mimicking the dances in the video.
Photo by Michelle da Silva
Moments later she asked the crowd if she could play the piano, uh how about a hell yes to that. So she jumped on and went into “Karma”, but it wasn’t the version off of the album. It was less thumpy and more bouncy, a salsa version of the song. It was different but I quite liked the sound of it.
My favorite song of the night was definitely “Diary”, I love this song, as it feels like a private moment / conversation between a man and a woman. Jermaine Paul stood by her piano as they both sang this together and man, I have to say it was beautiful and soulful. As this was ending she transitioned into what I initially thought was a Janet Jackson song, actually both Michelle and I thought it was, but as my home girl Niña so kindly pointed out, it was Force M.D.’s song “Tender Love”.
The concert was pretty fantastic and she ran through a gamut of her songs, full play list below. The only song she didn’t do that I wanted to hear was “Girlfriend” as it samples one of my favorite rappers, Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Can’t say too much about the venue that it was held in as it’s known to sound acoustically beautiful and it was no different for this concert. The crowd was chill through parts and wilded on occasion, as to be expected. Even though this was her second show in as many days in Vancouver, I still felt like she brought a ton of energy in her performance and kept the audience engaged the whole time. Two words: beautifully soulful.
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Below is the play list for those that were there and those that weren’t, compile as you wish so that you can relive the moment.
- Go Ahead
- You Don’t Know My Name
- Teenage Love Affair
- Heartburn
- Karma (Remixed)
- How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?
- Super Woman
- I Need You
- Wreckless Love
- Diary
- Force M.D.’s Tender Love
- My Boo
- Unbreakable
- A Woman’s Worth
- Like You’ll Never See Me Again
- Fallin’
- Encore – No One
