27 March
O2 Academy, Glasgow
Anne-Marie’s show in Glasgow is the last destination on the UK tour before she moves further to Europe with her upcoming album Speak Your Mind. The Essex-born 27-year-old singer, former featured vocalist for Rudimental and Clean Bandit, sells out all the most important venues in Britain, even before the premiere of her debut record which will be released on 27 April 2018.
Anne-Marie is another loud, bold, beautiful and powerful voice of our generation and a role model of girlpower and self-acceptance. Even her stage décor seems relatable for the audience, consisting mainly of enthusiastic teenagers. There are led lights, framed photos from her childhood and a lamp with a fringed shade. The stage is reminiscent of an average teenager’s bedroom, which creates an intimate, casual atmosphere. In spite of her overwhelmingly growing popularity, the fans still might feel as if they are watching Anne-Marie rehearsing in her four walls. This visual measure definitely breaks the ice between the artist and the audience.
On her records Anne-Marie shows a wide range and extraordinary strength of voice. During the Glasgow show, she proves that technically, she is an excellent vocalist. It doesn’t matter if she sings smooth, hypnotic pieces, like ‘Do It Right’ or sassy, energetic songs, for example ‘Target’ – she delights with a spectrum of vocal skills. The show reaches its climax when she performs one of her biggest hits – her first solo single ‘Alarm’ – and her voice doesn’t shake for a second. The audience rewards her with a spontaneous, unfeignedly honest applause. Her very humble ‘thank you’ implies that she almost didn’t believe in her very own abilities.
However, what’s even more precious than her unquestionably stunning technique, is commitment and naturalness. The audience can definitely feel all the emotions that she experiences and puts in her performances of every single song. As a great pop songwriter and lyricist, she shows that female vocalists don’t necessarily have to sing about love of men to be successful, which is a particularly important example to set for her target audience – the teenage girls filling the O2 Academy. She takes revenge as a ‘Bad Girlfriend’ who says ‘Ciao Adios,’ and embraces her insecurities in ‘Perfect’, encouraging everyone to love themselves. As an expression of this, she pulls her top up, showing off, as she herself points out, her imperfect body which she loves and accepts anyway.
The most stunning thing about Anne-Marie is that she absolutely loves performing and she enjoys every single second of her show. She builds a natural, unforced connection with the audience, she makes jokes, she laughs out loud to the mike, she waves and talks to her fans. She ends the concert with an inspiring message – “Last time I performed at this venue, I was the support act for Rudimental. Now, it’s sold out for me!” With easy grace and great sense of humour, she proves that nothing is impossible. Hopefully, she’ll keep this energy for ever.
Image: Pomona PR