Katy B at Koko

There was a lot of anticipation for this gig from her fans back on home turf. Katy B didn’t disappoint with a strong bold entrance, in full flow with her dancing troops. Starting with the punchy Hot Like Fire, flowing into 5am, and without letting up she breezed into Broken Record/Let Me Be Your Fantasy. It must be said that throughout the set she was pitch perfect, and absolutely owned the crowd. It’s great to see an R&B artist that doesn’t do vocal acrobatics. There was a lot of energy with the first three or four songs, but that energy soon dropped for a slower pace.

Katy B has a good stage presence, which is helped by the dancers, but when they disperse there seems to be a strong division between her and the rest of the band. An aspect that doesn’t work in her favour, as when the focus is just on her the atmosphere onstage seems rather sparse – at times you can hear this between the backing band and Katy’s vocals, exaggerating the separation. But it’s an aspect the fans seem to generally overlook.

Katy followed on with Blue Eyes, and barely resting up between songs, lunged headlong into Sapphire Blue, Still, Next Thing and Easy Please Me, bringing it back for a great simple acoustic rendition of Tumbling Down, which seemed to be “the couples tune”, followed by Crying for No Reason. She finished off with Katy on a Mission, which gave the crowd exactly what they came to see, with her dancing entourage with that tasty dubstep backing and infamous sing-along crowd participation.

There certainly was a club-like atmosphere for this popular R&B artist, and she’s definitely able to keep the crowds’ attention on her for most of the time, even when there’s plenty of distraction. 

But she was not finished yet, coming back on for Perfect Stranger/Emotions and then a surprise appearance from Ms Dynamite for the finale: Lights On. This left the crowd satisfied with the show. Katy B stamped her foot as an act that is determined, here to stay, making sure the fans left humming new pop hits on the way home.

 

Adam Bennett
Photos: Adam Bennett

For further information and future events visit Katy B’s website here.

Watch the video for Crying for No Reason here: