James Blunt live at Valletta Waterfont
7 April 2011
Have you ever met anyone who admits to being a James Blunt fan? Probably not. Yet with record sales exceeding the 15 million mark, there have to be some folks among us who are willingly buying his albums. And not all of these can be apathetic teens ordering last-minute birthday/Christmas presents for doe-eyed mums at discounted prices off Amazon.com either.
Most have learnt to keep their love of Blunt hushed for fear of being showered with ridicule. But there is comfort in numbers. With that in mind, James Blunt’s Maltese fanbase congregated in Valletta Waterfront last Thursday evening to witness the artist who was once voted more annoying than traffic wardens and paper cuts in the flesh.
Blunt walked out on stage to the steady beat and processed guitar riff intro of So Far Gone, waving and urging the crowd to clap along. The musicians sounded studio-recording polished. More surprisingly, Blunt’s vocals possessed more edge in the live arena. The band rattled off three fan favourites in quick succession, Dangerous, Billy and Wisemen, answering the lyric Where are you now? in the latter with a jocose: “We’re in Malta baby!”
“I was going to tell you to sit down and listen to two or three hours of miserable songs, but many of you seem to have forgotten your chairs,” the cherub faced singer-songwriter jested, before promising he would liven things up towards the end. “For now, here is what I do best, miserable songs,” he added by way of introduction to hit single Carry You Home.
While there was a sprinkling of the crowd engaged with every doleful note swirling out the tepid sound system, most present were counting down the minutes until the next hit single out of the handful came along. On Goodbye My Lover, the Maltese were dubbed the most in tune crowd Blunt had had the pleasure of hearing at his concerts. And You’re Beautiful was met with a flurry of phones aloft videoing every precious second to share on Facebook and force online friends into fits of shorthand envy. Yet these bouts of elation only highlighted the lulls of indifference in between.
Blunt is not the most rock ‘n roll of souls. This did not stop him from an abysmal attempt at crowdsurfing, however. He sheepishly returned to stage for encores of Stay the Night and 1973, which sounded genuinely uplifting. Then with a somewhat intriguing “See you all soon”, the night came to a close. While Blunt wouldn’t have converted many unbelievers, this was a treat the faithful fully relished.
A longer version of this review was originally published in the Times of Malta, 13th April 2011.