Over the last 32 years Beverley Knight has become a stalwart of the British music industry. Boasting one of the finest vocals out there, she has traversed genres, won accolades on the West End Stage and even proved a loveable presence on a couple of television panels.

Having last been out on the road for a headline tour back in 2023, to celebrate her 50th birthday with her fans, she has spent the last month up and down the UK revisiting the highs and lows of her career for the Born To Perform tour. As it pulls into its final stop, in her hometown Wolverhampton, the crowds flock to share this very special moment with a hometown hero.

Prior to Beverley taking to the stage, former teen icon Gabriella Cilmi warms the audience up. Having been signed to a major label at just 13, the 34-year-old enjoyed the peak of her commercial success between 2008 and 2010; however, back in April she released her first single in seven years. The song, Pure Love, opens her set and showcases that her voice has not lost any of its power. As she shares new material from her forthcoming studio album, she impresses effortlessly before climaxing her set with her two biggest hits - On A Mission and Sweet About Me - which leave the audience fully warmed up for the main act.

After just a very brief interval, Beverley blows the audience immediately with a truly striking rendition of Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord). Taking her audience back to the very beginning, she shares tales of her childhood experiences singing from the age of 3 and growing into the Wolverhampton Youth Theatre. She speaks openly about being spotted at 18 but having the guts and gumption to tell them to wait until she finishes university.

She speaks of the journey through her first critically acclaimed studio album to more mainstream success and running through the Mander Centre after being chased by fans at the height of her fame, before noting it was not all easy due to personal heartbreak and the panning of her fourth studio album. All these stories weave in and out of her songs, which leave you tingling all over. From the potency of Gold through to the fire of Come As You Are, each song hits you at your very core, and the connection between performer and audience is unbreakable.

As she recollects connecting with David Bowie and Prince, she closes her first act with the Chaka Khan/Prince classic I Feel For You. Her second act opens with the most magical rendition of Memory you will ever hear. As the first ever black Grizabella, her second act centres around her rediscovery of the world of musical theatre that had lit her fire in her early years. Admitting it was a tweet that drove her to audition for Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard, her husband encouraged her to find her way forward at a challenging time in her recording career by taking a left turn and then pushing onwards. The move proved fruitful as the musical theatre hits from her career showcase that she is far more than one of the UK's leading vocalists; she is also one of the leading actresses. While Memory is hard to top, she does so with a truly moving rendition of I Am What I Am.

Via a medley of I'm On Fire / Relight My Fire / Keep This Fire Burning and the rousing Soul Survivor, Beverley's set comes to a close. But the audience is hungry for more, which she happily delivers. Opening her encore with a cover of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come, Beverley goes full circle to the artist that first inspired her to sing – and, in doing so, delivers a truly faultless moment. As she draws the night to a close, she performs 2021's Everything's Gonna Be Alright, which serves easily as a mantra to a career that has had both award-winning highs and critical lows but also as an anthem of encouragement for all those that shared this glorious night to go forth and follow their hearts.