Six albums and twelve years into a commercial recording
career may yet prove to be just the starter for Miranda Lambert. As the Texas
dust settled on her ‘full’ UK stage debut, thoughts turned to how exciting the
next decade, and the subsequent ones after that, can be for an artist at the
pulse of contemporary country music. Of course, this is dependent on evolution
and maximising the enormous potential of development at her fingertips. These
range from establishing herself on an international platform to forming a body
of work that adds a legacy impact to one of commercial success. She is in the
midst of the first part of this and a Birmingham audience had an early
opportunity to revel in very much the present of this next significant phase of
her career.Elements of this development are making smart moves, not always dictated by the bottom dollar. For instance, there was scepticism about staging her first UK main show in such a large venue. A re-configured Barclaycard Arena just about succeeded in providing a suitable setting, but from a personal perspective how much elevation could have been secured from staging it at the city’s Symphony Hall, Institute or Academy. The eventual turnout may likely to have been squeezed, but the pay off in raising the roof would have prevailed. First and foremost, Miranda Lambert is not a UK arena act in 2017. However, size of venue is not the only measure of an artist’s stature within an industry.
Perhaps the greatest compliment to pay Miranda Lambert is
that the set list that accompanied her on this European excursion is merely the
icing on a substantial back catalogue. Once again, from a personal perspective,
there are at least a dozen of her recorded songs that are preferred to what was
offered on stage. Prior research advised of this situation, but from a general viewpoint,
it is hard to dispute the popular appeal of the songs chosen. Indeed one of the
aims of this concert was to see which of the set list stood out to prove the
eventual highlights.
For me there were four specific songs that created a lasting
memory of their live airing. First up was ‘Ugly
Lights’ off the new WEIGHT OF THESE WINGS album and one of the few tracks to
get a brief introduction. The concept of this record with all its break up connotations
was brought to stark life in the next three minutes of tearing away the layers
of a heart. Earlier in the set, ‘All
Kinds of Kinds’ had brought the arena to frenzied activity with its
heartfelt sentiment and enjoyable interaction. This song has taken on a new
lease of life since listening to its writer Don Henry play it at The Bluebird Café
in Nashville last year. The other two songs to really stand out came in just
ahead of the fiery finale of ‘White Liar’
and ‘Gunpowder and Lead’. ‘Little Red Wagon’ preceded these and its
live version was a substantial upgrade on an album track that struggles to make
an impact among the heavyweight offerings on PLATINUM. Also from that record
and starring during this show was ‘Automatic’,
which probably saw Miranda reach her optimum peak on the evening as she
strolled around the stage belting out this nostalgia-fuelled classic.
Elsewhere the usual suspects went down a storm. ‘The House That Built Me’ and ‘Tin Man’, the latter beginning a
two-song encore segment, brought a tear to many an eye, while ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ probably maximised
the audience reaction. ‘Pink Sunglasses’
emerges as a light hearted crowd
pleaser, disguising its more serious message. While professing not to
being everyone’s cup of tea, the fun element ensures its tenure at least for
the moment.
Away from the recorded content, Miranda and her strong
eight-piece band celebrated the work of other artists on two occasions. By far
the best of these was a rollicking version of Rodney Crowell’s ‘I Ain’t Living Long Like This’. This saw
the band significantly raise their game and left a pondering thought that maybe
an area for development could be bringing them more to the fore in future
shows. There also could have been room for raising the profile of the keys and
pedal steel, thus giving the constant guitar breaks a relief. In essence, there
was a general feel to widen the scope of the country sound. The other cover
posed as the end point with Miranda celebrating a recent enlightenment to the
power of music courtesy of U2. ‘I Still
Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ was the chosen piece led by Miranda
handily joined at this stage by her supporting cast, both on and off the stage.
Part of Miranda’s on-stage team is independent recording
vocalist Gwen Sebastian who was afforded a brief moment in the spotlight to
share her new song ‘Cadillac’ with
the audience. This came over as a strong piece sung with great panache and also
revealed Miranda’s increasing prowess as a songwriter. Earlier in the evening
had seen English duo Ward Thomas open the show and given the chance by their
new label Sony to prosper on a bigger stage.
The magnitude of this big night for Miranda was not lost as
she set about a first lone show, following last year’s C2C appearance, on the
soil of a country that continues to give her serious love. She did admit to
apprehensive nerves, but these failed to hinder any of the twenty-one songs
served up. One aspect that she needs to grasp is the reserved nature of UK
audiences. She is not the first and will not be the last to comment, but it is
a prominent reality of the difference an entire ocean can make. However, she
will be held to her promise to return.
Returning to the wider aspect of Miranda’s career and where
next could it head. The first decade has yielded enormous success, give or take
the odd bump, and this has been done with a loosening of the reins as a signed
artist. Further development in this area will help fuel the legacy. She
definitely seeks influence in the right areas and maybe this could lead to
collaborations, extended duets, more solo writing adventures, legendary tributes
or specific switches across the genre platforms. As a commercial performer, she
has built up a considerable fan base and the test of a true artist is to take them with you rather
than being dictated by them.
At this moment, let’s just rejoice in the present and be
grateful that Miranda Lambert has gravitated to an international platform. She
remains my number one contemporary recording artist and it was a privilege to
be in her presence (with a few thousand others) for a thankful, fabulous hour
and a half. Hopefully in the future she can rise to number one in the live charts,
with her Birmingham debut being a very high new entry. The thought of six
albums being the mere aperitif is an exciting one and maybe the overseas tour
of 2017 will be a pivotal moment.