Review: John Legend at the Royal Albert Hall

On Monday night I caught John Legend live at the Royal Albert Hall in London, in a special one-off gig before a bigger tour later in the year to support the new album, 'Once Again'.

Firstly, for me it was a concert of two halves really. The first five or so songs was spent up in the Gallery at the very top of the famous dome. While the view up there was great, the sound was dreadful, echoing and booming around the roof.

So we asked if we could move down into the half-empty main floor, where the orchestra normally sits. And we weren't the only ones- the ticket desk was a steady stream of people asking how to move or even asking for their money back. But they happily swapped our wrist passes and let us in, and- what a difference.

Clear and warm, you could hear every note and what John was singing & saying perfectly. Only a dozen rows from the front, it was great to see and hear him go through songs from the first album and the new one, which sounds just as good.

But the place really erupted during 'Number One' when KanYe West strode on stage to deliver his rap live! John picked it up with him, the two swapping sides of the stage, and he stayed to sing on just one other song.

John spent the rest of the set switching between standing at the mic and sat playing the piano, ending with a croud-silencing rendition of 'Ordinary People', sounding better live than on the album.

The gig was clearly a pre-promotional event as well. It was streamed live on MSN and also looked like it was being filmed for TV or a DVD as there were cameras everywhere. Also, the lighting was much brighter than you'd normally expect for a gig, presumably again for filming, and there was more than a few drunken 'VIPs' out on a corporate freebie to see John SomeoneOrOther.

John name-checked the album and release date very clearly twice (for the kids at home?) and, of course, KanYe West putting in an appearance doens't happen every day!

But with what sounds like another good album on the way, John looks sure to build on his reputation as the man, the Legend. :)