kd Lang

Her voice is round and mellow, deep and resonant: she is a glass of warm brandy in the palm of your hand.  It shimmies off the walls and reverberates in my bones like a fast-drunk shot of sambuca, warming every cell of me. And now it is crisp and clear, soaring and swelling, lifting us all, encircling us in its brightness; a chilled Chardonnay on a balmy summers evening.

The voice? It is of course the wonderful kd Lang!

Her seven piece band exchange instruments as readily as bus tickets, easily swapping a violin for a cello; an accordion for a piano; a banjo for a mandolin, and all of the above for some complicated looking piece of kit that apparently has no frets, ten keys, several foot pedals and some knee levers! Kd attempts to explain and model it for us but her efforts fail and she walks away laughing. Their skill is incredible but just as impressive is the rapport between them all.  They are each introduced with a gentle, intimate and meandering story, and it feels like we’re sitting in kd’s front room, eaves dropping on her pals’ night in. 

She chats a lot with us, which is wonderful. Even her spoken voice is warm and comforting. She makes jokes about her inability to understand social media, and refers to herself (and some of the audience) as elder gays… a theme she refers to a few times during the night. Her charm seduces and hypnotises, and when she enthrals with a powerful, upbeat rendition of ‘Constant Craving’ half way through the set, ending with her swinging the microphone around her head, over and over like she’s preparing for a rodeo, the audience stands and stamps and claps and of course sings along with such rapture that she seems genuinely moved.  

In her oversized black jacket and perennial white shirt, with the lights down low she looks like an agile Jools Holland, but as the piano gets jazzier and the vocals become more bluesy, she channels the rat pack, leaning against the enormous speaker, or placing an arm on a colleagues’ shoulder. All she’s missing is a smoking cigarette and a tumbler of whiskey. 

I am charmed and delighted, and clearly the crowd at the National Concert Hall is with me on this. As we float down the stairs, I hear whispers of ‘I’m blown away’….. ‘I can’t speak’…..’so wonderful, uplifting, mesmerising’. 

All of that and more!