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 Lead singer Brittany, bespectacled in a black dress,
bellowing with her blue electric guitar, begins the show
channeling her inner rock chick, almost screaming into the mic.
Though the band is a four-piece, it can feel like a solo
performance by its charismatic front-woman as she stomps about
the stage, sometimes sultry, sometimes defiant, but always a
strong stage presence.
Twenty-seven-year-old Howard, whose raspy tones and tales of
heartbreak give her the air of an older woman, sings a lot about
home on the last leg of a 93-city tour following the launch in
April of the group's second album, "Sound and Color", which
topped the U.S. Billboard charts.
The former truck driver and postal service worker from Athens,
Alabama, has a tattoo of the state with a heart on her arm.
"Where's my home/where I belong?" she demands in "Rise to the
Sun", from the band's debut 2012 album "Boys and Girls".
From blues to rock to rodeo, Howard's long list of influences -
Prince, Jim Hendrix, Elvis Presley - ring out.
She takes a bow after "Hold On" in the middle of the set, the
band's breakthrough number one single, named 2013's song of the
year by Rolling Stone magazine and nominated for three Grammy
awards.
The crowd is now warmed up, with sporadic screams of "I love you
Brittany," as she wails out songs from the new album.
"I saw the true you and you, true me," she screams in "Gemini",
then she rips off her glasses, throws them to the floor, then
walks off stage.
"One, two, three," comes the encore.
"Y' all are so nice, so refreshing. So far away from home and
this is the last show.... Thank you for coming out, it's a good
time to spread love, a good time to spread joy, to love music
and create."
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Just six days earlier, scores of people were gunned down in an
attack at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, where California's
rock band Eagles of Death Metal were playing. Following that attack,
Alabama Shakes' s Luxembourg set at the Sonic Visions festival was
canceled.
Matt Troy, a 22-year-old student from New York, brought along
20-year-old Brittany Gregory at the last minute, because the friend
she had planned to come with had not wanted to travel to London,
worried about the threat of a terrorist attack. Tory's parents were
also anxious about her attending the gig.
"I was a little concerned because the band is American and has an
American name – that was a bit of a red flag," Troy said at the end
of the show. "But the feeling was so good in here, I tried to not
think about it."
It was the third time that 60-year-old Sally Wilkes had seen the
Alabama Shakes play. She traveled with her husband and son from
Hertfordshire, outside London, to see the band.
"She (Howard) is just brilliant – she's got a fantastic voice, so
much energy, and she's not one of those people that are
manufactured. She's what she is," said Wilkes.
As Howard, who counts U.S. President Barack Obama and British
megastar Adele as fans, sings that she's "never saying goodbye", the
audience start clapping as if they're watching a gospel band into
the last song of the night and the tour.
"You ain't alone /just let me be your ticket home."
(Reporting by Anjuli Davies and Jemima Kelly; Editing by Hugh
Lawson)
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