Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Saturday October 15, 2016 :
Taking to the Newcastle stage ethereal as ever in a snazzy silver suit, Emma Louise begins painting a picture in the air before she even sings a word, with outstretched arms and slow dancing fingers. But when she does reach the mic, colour drips from her delicately chiming voice as it rings through the room.
Delighting with songs from her latest album Supercry, Emma Louise and her close-knit band worked committedly to draw in the, at times, talkative crowd. ‘Talk Baby Talk’, ushering the audience to find their voices as they joined the chorus “Baby talk all night / baby talk all night / Oh why can’t we just talk about it?” as the subtle starting track weaved it’s way into siren-like synths and wailing electric guitar licks.
Emma soon took the keys for the gentle and stirring ‘Grace’; politely asking the crowd to hush for this one. Explaining the song was written for her best friend Grace whose parents happened to be in the crowd. Despite a select few thunderdouches unability to quiten for the song, Emma bared perfect homage to the lyrical vunerabilty and honesty that heartshapes her latest release Supercry as such a exceptionally beautiful collection of songs… “She is my source of grace/ and grace is everywhere“… seeing that translate in a live setting made my skin goosebumped and my insides all fuzzy… I only wish such magic was greeted with the complete pin-drop silence it deserved.
By the time we reached the obvious crowd pleaser ‘Jungle’, Emma told the story of how she once near drowned in Newcastle and was fortunately saved by a fellow by the name of Jack who valiantly dove into the surf to her rescue. Jack also came to the show and so with that ‘Jungle’ became Jack’s song as bodies swayed to the familiar rumbling rhythms.
And with one last work of art up her shimmering silver sleeve, Emma went from avidly dripping with colour to entirely beaming to the sweeping vibrancy of the aptly titled ‘Illuminate’… “I am one million colours in one/ I am one, one in a million / Watch me I’ll illuminate” – that you are Emma Louise and that you most certainly did.
Reviewer : Chloe Webb