Mosaic Music Festival: Joss Stone (8 March 2013)

Reviewed on 11 March 2013.

(Apologies for the lack of pictures. I couldn't capture a good one of her.)

This is a personal dream come true.

Ten years ago I was sitting at a desk in a quiet office where I was having my internship. My internship buddy was a few tables away. The only item worth mentioning on my desk was a computer, at that time it was those old white plastic ones with huge bulky monitors. I couldn’t do anything on that computer except work as the company had limited my access to the web and I was crazy bored out of my mind. I vowed, under my breath, “never to work at someplace without full access to the web again”.

So, bored as I am and ignoring the disapproving stares of the full-time staff, I sidled over to my internship buddy at her desk and asked her if she has any work to do. Apparently she is in a similar situation to me, except that she occupied herself with music and sketching to ‘look busy’. Green with envy at her ingenuity, I asked to borrow her CD to play at my computer.

That was the first time I heard Mind, Body & Soul by this up-and-coming singer named Joss Stone. I have my internship buddy to thank. I never looked back since. I have to thank Ms Stone for making the long journeys to the other side of the country for my internship tolerable, for being there for me when I am bored stupid at work and just opening me up to a great music genre. When I first bought myself my first iPod (third generation) with my first internship pay, the only album I loaded in there was Mind, Body & Soul. That lasted for about a week before I added other artists in.

I never got tired of Mind, Body & Soul throughout the years. It has been ten years now and I still listen to it now and then. I have heard all her other offerings and loved them all but I kept returning to Mind, Body & Soul. It has a hold on me. Her soulful voice just drew me blissfully into those wonderfully sophisticated songs. Sure, I have fallen along the wayside and listened to other artists, but when I want to relax or return to some semblance of normalcy, I turn back to that life-changing album.

So it was a dream come true seeing her live on stage at the Esplanade Concert Hall belting out hit after hit. A ten-year dream made true. She started the concert, barefoot (duh!), with a cover of the anthem-like “(For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People” from The Soul Sessions Vol. 2. This explosive song drove the crowd wild. After the song, she lets on that she “fucking hates seats” and started encouraging everyone on the ground to stand up, leave their seats and congregate in front of the stage. That was the first concert in Esplanade where I had a performer asking everyone to stand up. I liked that and I suffered a serious case of envy at not being able to be part of the stage-front congregation. I was seated at Circle 2, which is at the second level of the concert hall, which I naively thought was good enough. Who knew right? Who knew?! @#$%^&*!

In fact, Stone was so comfortable (probably more so when your feet are exposed) that she slid off stage, went to the middle of the hall and climbed onto one of the seats (again, made easier when you have no shoes on). Then she began inviting more people to join the front-stage congregation! I was flabbergasted. Which artist does that? This is definitely a first for me and I am thoroughly impressed by the confidence she possessed. Everyone just went crazy and was cheering. Even my concert buddy and I jumped up and remained standing for most of the concert. I felt apologetic (slightly) for the people seated behind us, but hey, you got to listen to what the artist demands right? And who in their right minds will remain seated after what Stone did? They must be stoned.

After she got everyone excited and ecstatic she launched into her set. She played a mix of songs from all her albums but, I really don’t have to tell you, I am looking forward to the songs from Mind, Body & Soul the most. She sang “You Had Me” and “Jet Lag” from this album. I was as happy as a puppy.  If I had a tail you would see it doing some serious wagging and my puppy tongue would be lick-happy. She also did a medley of songs where she would sing a part of a song before it segued into another. SMOOTH.

Her band was outstanding. I was awe-struck by them. It was a quite a large band; one drummer, one bassist, one guitarist (a hell of a good one), one trombonist, one saxophonist, one trumpeter and a guy on keyboards. She also had three backup singers and boy do I have something to say about them. Each of them has their own characteristics. One was diva-ish and looked really unhappy performing; she was the odd one out of the trio and rarely acknowledged her fellow backup singers. When she does deign to dance, she moved so unwillingly and seemed really half-hearted about the whole thing. Personally I felt that they can do with one less backup singer. The guy in the middle was one dashing dynamite!  He is a mover-and-shaker and has got all the moves to makes us swoon.  At one point he was so into the song that he burst out into a little number and was just getting down with it. Talk about spontaneity while performing. I love it. The last backup singer is this matronly-looking woman. But she is really sporty and tried to keep up with dashing dynamite, move for move. She deserves a round of applause for trying. They are a whole dish of fun plus a side of sulky (I am looking at you Ms Diva).

The concert was about an hour long, which is about the only disappointing aspect of the night. I really wished she could have played longer and I believe I speak for all the concert-goers that night. Stone was simply sensational and we (I) just could not get enough of her. She came back for two encores though. My hands were sore from all the clapping to get the encores. For her final encore, Stone sang “Right to be Wrong”, one of my favourite songs from my favourite album (you know which one). She killed it. She owned the show and brought the house down. To end the night, she came back out on stage with a bunch of white roses, throwing them stalk-by-stalk to the appreciative audience.

Towards the last strains of her final encore, I involuntarily teared and got all choked up while applauding madly for her.

It was the realization that my long-time dream was realized.