"Natasha Bedingfield's US Debut Performance"
[Music Natasha Bedingfield, "These Words (I Love You, I Love You)"]
I saw Natasha's US debut live performance last night at The Roxy Theatre on Sunset Blvd! To say it was a "concert" would be misleading; instead, it was more of a showcase.
The show was suppose to start at 7 p.m. (doors opened at 6:30 p.m.) and the crowd at the door was not overly large. The diversity of the audience was surprising; all types of ethnicities, ages, couples/singletons, drinkers/non-drinkers. Surprising! Many, I suspected, were part of the media and were invited to get a taste of who Natasha was.
It wasn't until 7:45 that a person from Natasha's record label took the stage to proudly introduce "one of the brightest new singer/songwriters" who has already "conquered the world." He went on to tell us that she was #1 in 12 countries, her album was already triple-platinum, she was #6 on TRL yesterday, #1 on VH1, and held the #1 pop song on ITunes! Everyone applauded!!!
Then Natasha's sexy band and back-up singers (I do mean sexy! They were two girls dressed in black) took the small stage by storm with a loud, blaring opening of "If You're Gonna..."! What a perfect song to get the audience going. Loud and energetic!
Natasha was beautiful last night. Her hair looked very 1920s chic, wavy in the front and back, like what the girls had on "America's Next Top Model 4" in South Africa Caress Wash shoot. She wore a white top, that showed off her midriff, a denim skirt that had red strips in them (I don't know how to describe this vintage look, sorry!), and high heels (!!! Was it really practical for performance wear?). Very Bohemian!
"If You're Gonna..." was much more rowdy than the album version.. She really made a eye-opening first impression. Natasha surprised us all when she sang the line "I want to stare fear in the face!" and got right into the face of the guy in front of me. She even played around with the guitarist during the line about playing guitar.
Next, she asked "Are there any single people here?" and all the singletons shouted "YEAHH!!!" "Single" kept the momentum going as the audience was really into Natasha's high octane performance. There was a large crowd who came from London and she said she really appreciated it. During a line, she went up to her guitarist and playfully pushed him down like she didn't need a guy! Very Rachel Stevens- "Negotiate With Love"!
Before she got into her next song, "Unwritten," she told everyone it was the title track from her album that came out on Tuesday (more cheering from the audience!). I knew "Unwritten" would blow the roof off with its hook.. the audience was practically singing along at the top of their lungs as the chorus kept repeating. Natasha jumped up and down and reached out and touched the audience during "Reaching for something in the distance, so close you can almost taste it..." Absolutely perfect, the highlight of the evening! The energy in the now-packed crowd was explosive....
Then suddenly the night took a turn. This is where I thought the momentum she just built died. Perhaps the Roxy, where it is small and the bar is noisy (why do those people come anyway if they're not going to listen to Natasha and gibber loudly?), is not the place of emotional ballads.
Still catching her breath, Natasha went into "I Bruise Easily." Although I think it's a great song, it felt out of place in this venue and should've been saved toward the end.
Her next song was "Silent Movie," which was followed by another ballad "Wild Horses." I thought she was vocally much stronger on "Wild Horses" than "I Bruise Easily." She also thanked the press, media, radio, and fans for coming.
The Londoners kept trying to request "Ain't Nobody," which she covered with brother Daniel at The Brits and had it as a B-side on "I Bruise Easily." It did not look like she was taking requests on this one-night gig (she's not on tour).
Thus, it was odd that she said "Now I need audience participation for my next song," which was "These Words (I Love You, I Love You)." The audience was left to sing the chorus, which we all know by now. Halfway through the song, Natasha revealed it was her last tune of the night by saying "I love you all!" The cute part (which I think she does at all performances) is when she said the word "hook" and made a little hook with her pointer finger! When the song ended, she said "Good night, see you next time!" and abruptly left the stage.
Everyone gathered around like "That's all?" because the gig was shorter than our wait (ending at ~8:30) and we thought there would be an encore because she didn't introduce her band. Instead, the Roxy staff pulled down the curtains, which was our cue to leave.
Overall, I thought Natasha accomplished her mission last night by showing the US media that she's the real deal. She can perform and put on quite a show that'll get the audience going.
Hopefully next time, once she really goes on tour, the setlist will be longer with the ballads spaced out apart. Then again, this was not a widely publicized gig so it was probably more for the media than fans; her official site didn't even list it (I found out from the wonderful http://www.natashaonline.net ). I was a bit surprised that great tunes like "The One That Got Away" and "Drop Me In The Middle" was omitted; maybe she didn't think it was good to perform "Drop" without a rapper in the house.
Good job, Natasha, on your first US performance! To many more great gigs to come!
Plus, I would like to make a shout-out: thank you to my two pals for coming along to see a singer you've never seen or heard before this night! Hope Natasha won you over. :) I love you, I love you, I love you!
Setlist:
If You're Gonna...
Single
Unwritten
I Bruise Easily
Silent Movie
Wild Horses
These Words (I Love You, I Love You)
Her brilliant debut album "Unwritten" was released last Tuesday. Also available in DualDisc format. Get your copy today!
[Music Natasha Bedingfield, "These Words (I Love You, I Love You)"]
I saw Natasha's US debut live performance last night at The Roxy Theatre on Sunset Blvd! To say it was a "concert" would be misleading; instead, it was more of a showcase.
The show was suppose to start at 7 p.m. (doors opened at 6:30 p.m.) and the crowd at the door was not overly large. The diversity of the audience was surprising; all types of ethnicities, ages, couples/singletons, drinkers/non-drinkers. Surprising! Many, I suspected, were part of the media and were invited to get a taste of who Natasha was.
It wasn't until 7:45 that a person from Natasha's record label took the stage to proudly introduce "one of the brightest new singer/songwriters" who has already "conquered the world." He went on to tell us that she was #1 in 12 countries, her album was already triple-platinum, she was #6 on TRL yesterday, #1 on VH1, and held the #1 pop song on ITunes! Everyone applauded!!!
Then Natasha's sexy band and back-up singers (I do mean sexy! They were two girls dressed in black) took the small stage by storm with a loud, blaring opening of "If You're Gonna..."! What a perfect song to get the audience going. Loud and energetic!
Natasha was beautiful last night. Her hair looked very 1920s chic, wavy in the front and back, like what the girls had on "America's Next Top Model 4" in South Africa Caress Wash shoot. She wore a white top, that showed off her midriff, a denim skirt that had red strips in them (I don't know how to describe this vintage look, sorry!), and high heels (!!! Was it really practical for performance wear?). Very Bohemian!
"If You're Gonna..." was much more rowdy than the album version.. She really made a eye-opening first impression. Natasha surprised us all when she sang the line "I want to stare fear in the face!" and got right into the face of the guy in front of me. She even played around with the guitarist during the line about playing guitar.
Next, she asked "Are there any single people here?" and all the singletons shouted "YEAHH!!!" "Single" kept the momentum going as the audience was really into Natasha's high octane performance. There was a large crowd who came from London and she said she really appreciated it. During a line, she went up to her guitarist and playfully pushed him down like she didn't need a guy! Very Rachel Stevens- "Negotiate With Love"!
Before she got into her next song, "Unwritten," she told everyone it was the title track from her album that came out on Tuesday (more cheering from the audience!). I knew "Unwritten" would blow the roof off with its hook.. the audience was practically singing along at the top of their lungs as the chorus kept repeating. Natasha jumped up and down and reached out and touched the audience during "Reaching for something in the distance, so close you can almost taste it..." Absolutely perfect, the highlight of the evening! The energy in the now-packed crowd was explosive....
Then suddenly the night took a turn. This is where I thought the momentum she just built died. Perhaps the Roxy, where it is small and the bar is noisy (why do those people come anyway if they're not going to listen to Natasha and gibber loudly?), is not the place of emotional ballads.
Still catching her breath, Natasha went into "I Bruise Easily." Although I think it's a great song, it felt out of place in this venue and should've been saved toward the end.
Her next song was "Silent Movie," which was followed by another ballad "Wild Horses." I thought she was vocally much stronger on "Wild Horses" than "I Bruise Easily." She also thanked the press, media, radio, and fans for coming.
The Londoners kept trying to request "Ain't Nobody," which she covered with brother Daniel at The Brits and had it as a B-side on "I Bruise Easily." It did not look like she was taking requests on this one-night gig (she's not on tour).
Thus, it was odd that she said "Now I need audience participation for my next song," which was "These Words (I Love You, I Love You)." The audience was left to sing the chorus, which we all know by now. Halfway through the song, Natasha revealed it was her last tune of the night by saying "I love you all!" The cute part (which I think she does at all performances) is when she said the word "hook" and made a little hook with her pointer finger! When the song ended, she said "Good night, see you next time!" and abruptly left the stage.
Everyone gathered around like "That's all?" because the gig was shorter than our wait (ending at ~8:30) and we thought there would be an encore because she didn't introduce her band. Instead, the Roxy staff pulled down the curtains, which was our cue to leave.
Overall, I thought Natasha accomplished her mission last night by showing the US media that she's the real deal. She can perform and put on quite a show that'll get the audience going.
Hopefully next time, once she really goes on tour, the setlist will be longer with the ballads spaced out apart. Then again, this was not a widely publicized gig so it was probably more for the media than fans; her official site didn't even list it (I found out from the wonderful http://www.natashaonline.net ). I was a bit surprised that great tunes like "The One That Got Away" and "Drop Me In The Middle" was omitted; maybe she didn't think it was good to perform "Drop" without a rapper in the house.
Good job, Natasha, on your first US performance! To many more great gigs to come!
Plus, I would like to make a shout-out: thank you to my two pals for coming along to see a singer you've never seen or heard before this night! Hope Natasha won you over. :) I love you, I love you, I love you!
Setlist:
If You're Gonna...
Single
Unwritten
I Bruise Easily
Silent Movie
Wild Horses
These Words (I Love You, I Love You)
Her brilliant debut album "Unwritten" was released last Tuesday. Also available in DualDisc format. Get your copy today!
