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Jamie
Cullen
@ The Brighton Centre
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But
there's a lot more to this exciting young performer than his boyish
good looks and naughty sense of humour. On Saturday night at The
Dome in Brighton, he had the sell-out audience simply spellbound.
His
two-hour show was a perfect mix of album tracks from the sublime
and hugely successful 'Twentysomething', punctuated with a few quirky
and delightful surprises.
Jamie
Cullum is like a man possessed when he's on stage - and his energy
is infectious. He jumps around like a manic cartoon character -
and his favourite toy is of course his piano.
Not
only does he tinkle it's ivories, he stands on it, leaps off it,
lies underneath it and kicks it, and plays every edge of it like
a set of bongo drums (at which point all I can think is 'ouch, his
poor little hands!').
And
get this - the cheeky wee piano prankster can play the guitar as
well! It was kind of odd seeing him standing at the mic strumming,
but of course he pulled it off - adorably.
Among
the other surprises JC had in store for his fans during Saturday's
show was his unique version of The Who's 'My Generation'. Die-hard
Who fans would probably call it sacrilege - I'd call it genius.
From the moodily mellow verses to the raucous chorus, Jamie Cullum
makes jazz ROCK!
If
only the producers of The Brits had let him and Katie Melua perform
this song on the night as they'd wished, and not forced them to
do a not-so-brilliant version of The Cure's 'Love Cats'
Other
highlights of the night included the frighteningly funky cover of
the Pharell Williams featuring Jay-Z track 'Frontin', first performed
in Jo Whiley's live lounge on Radio One and now being released as
a double-A side alongside 'These Are the Days' (out March the 8th).
And
you've just got to take your hat off to someone who can switch from
Radiohead's 'High and Dry' to 'Singing in the Rain' and back again
so seamlessly. It was amazing.
My
brother fantasy was further fuelled when Jamie sat on the stage
with his legs dangling over the edge and then proceeded to jump
off and wander among his audience crooning - if I'd been close enough
I would have invited him to sit on my knee
but let's not go
there.
Let's
instead mention JC's highly accomplished six-piece band whose musicianship
was polished and whose girly backing vocals gave us all a good laugh.
The
climax of the show was a good old sing-song with the whole of The
Dome on their feet and singing in perfect harmony, followed by his
new single, the aforementioned 'These are the Days', which had a
merry band of fans boogieing down the front.
And
then to top it all off, he went all big brother on us and sang us
a lullaby to send us on our way. Bless him.
Review: Lanie Whiting
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