Ready to showcase all three phases of her career, LeAnn Rimes
valiantly stepped onto the Birmingham Symphony Hall stage to shrug off her
recent ailments and set about re-establishing herself with a live UK audience. While
the gig may have been close to following the same demise as the Dublin date a
few days earlier, those present sampled the opportunity to savour her precious
vocal talent and enthusiastically welcomed her back to Britain’s provincial
arenas. Circumstances may have contributed to a halving of the set time from
the two-hour Belfast extravaganza that opened the tour but it gave sufficient
evidence as to why millions have bought into her crossover appeal.
The hugely successful period where LeAnn floated around the
peripheral of the country music model was represented by a string of hits
including ‘How Do I Live’, ‘Cant’ Fight
the Moonlight’, ‘Life Goes On’ and ‘Last
Thing on My Mind’ and these were well received by those not deterred by the
slightly inflated ticket prices. With the backing of a four piece band comprising
of percussion and the guitar trinity of lead, bass and pedal steel, LeAnn
constantly switched her mode of delivery from bar stool to increased animation
in order to reflect the mood of the song. The listening experience is core to
any LeAnn Rimes show and while the true professionalism of her vocal content
was in place, perhaps the show production could have developed the no doubt
fine musicianship behind her a little more.
There were glimpses of this when LeAnn brought the audience
up to date with what was sadly for me a rather minimal representation of her
excellent new album SPITFIRE. The onstage interaction required to bring ‘Gasoline and Matches’ to life proved the
high point of a show which, while of undeniable high quality, left some food
for thought. SPITFIRE is the latest segment of her re-integration with the
country music fraternity and the passion and sincerity of this record was
exemplified in her stunning rendition of two of the album’s fine ballads, ‘Borrowed’ and ‘What Have I Done’. It was a pity that some of the grittier tracks
such as ‘Spitfire’ and ‘You Ain’t Right’ weren’t aired to show
the nostalgia driven fans the true depth of a project designed to reflect upon
the events of a turbulent period in her life.
Mid-set we were reminded of the child prodigy years with a
spellbinding version of ‘Blue’ from
an album that I will never tire of returning to even though LeAnn fondly
reminded everyone that little was understood at the time. Although it was a touch
disappointing that the far from modest outlay was rewarded with only a 65-minute
set, the evening which had began on a high with the energetic ‘Family’ ended with a spine tingling and
intimate version of ‘Hallelujah’
accompanied only by a solitary acoustic
guitar. This Leonard Cohen standard is fast becoming a fashionable closer on my
gig travels and LeAnn’s version, aided by the venue’s superb acoustic sound, didn’t
disappoint.
There may be a fair few music miles on LeAnn’s clock but a
feeling exists that there is a lot more to come and that she is ‘work-in-progress’ in becoming an acclaimed and influential
artist. The material and style from her last three albums has hopefully signalled
a path to this status. The quality content from the new record has seen LeAnn
set the agenda and this needs to be developed in the future. The country music
world is willing for her talent to be a genre flag bearer and although this
show experience came up a little short in some aspects, the desire for LeAnn to
reach that exalted level has been fuelled by her desire to re-connect with wider
audiences.
On his first experience of performing outside the US, the singer-songwriter Logan Mize did a sterling job to open for LeAnn and, although reduced to solo acoustic status, demonstrated possessing the talent and toolkit to make inroads into the world of contemporary country music. The confidence in his onstage presence both in delivery and banter harnessed a passion to use the medium of song to bring to life real issues ingrained in the country music songbook. Definitely an artist to have his future releases monitored.
