Review: James Morrison - Albert Hall, Manchester

Opening up tonight singer songwriter Eva Stone is from the North East but her bluesy and at times jazzy vocals showed that given the right breaks she could be a success. Her voice settled down as her set progressed with 25 years being her best song.

4 years is a long time to be away in the music business but when James Morrison returned at the end of last month with his new album, Higher Than Here the album entered the charts in the Top 10 such is his popularity with this gig also being sold out.

To reintroduce and reacquaint himself with his fans this gig was part of a small tour in smaller venues where he would not normally play. Of course he could have easily sold out bigger venues but tonight it was a more intimate affair.

Casually dressed in T shirt and jeans he walks on to the stage and genuinely seems surprised at how warmly the crowd receive him: it's like he has never been away. In body he might have been but to those present his music has never gone out of their lives.

With a tight band including 3 backing vocalists they light up the hall with his opening track, Under the Influence. It's not long before his big hits are played, I Won't Let You Go demonstrated how his music is timeless and how the track is still a radio favourite.

Of course there is the new album to showcase. Stay Like This is the first track he plays off the album. He shares with his audience the inspiration behind the songs with his young daughter being a big influence on his lyrics: Just Like a Child he says was about telling her not to be so clumsy but then he realised that she got it from her dad! Easy Love, one of the best tracks on the new album was influenced when they were having a family outing on a summers day. It might sound twee but it felt like he was being open with his fans and it made it feel like he was on their level.

Of course the older tracks were the ones his audience loved the most. Broken Strings is performed as an acoustic number with him singing all the track with no female as is the recorded version. The female members of the audience take over the singing, fittingly they sound like a choir in this former Methodist Church. Morrison continues to look surprised at how well things are going.

Demons, the first single off the new album sounds better live than on record as the harmonies of the backing vocalists make the chorus more soulful rather than the shrill repeated title of the track on record.

He encores with You Give Me Something before closing with the title track of the album, Higher Than Here. It was a fantastic end to what had been a fantastic gig, tonight in Manchester there was definitely nowhere Higher Than Here. A triumph and a brilliant return.


James Morrision plays Leeds 02 Academy on Wednesday 9 March 2016.