Joss Stone
January 20, 2007
The Docks


Its 9:00pm on a Saturday night at The Docks and the place is half empty. People are slowly gathering in thinking that they must have read the website wrong and that there is no way that Joss Stone would throw a concert with only a one day notice. But they gather in anyway hoping that Joss Stone will not turn out to be an 80 year-old polka player named Josh Stone.

After about a half an hour the lights slowly dim and the now hefty sized audience pushes its way to the stage in hopes of a pleasant surprise. When the lights go up the crowd fills with excitement as the stage brims with 11 musicians and singers ready to make Joss look good. At this point a huge boulder of dread fills my stomach. I mean, if Stone could really sing – and on her CDs the girl can sing – and if she were a great performer, there would be no need for such a large crew.

The music starts and the backup singers are singing, the horn section is jamming, the guitars and pianos are blaring and the drummer is rocking, but still no sign of Joss. Then, all of a sudden, a bare foot clad Stone comes out on stage, grabs the microphone and blows all my dread out the window.

Not only can the girl sing – I have never heard a woman sing live like that before – but she brought down the house. There was not a person in the place who didn’t enjoy it and after one song the entire place was filled with dancing and excitement.

After an hour of devilishly pleasing songs, most of which are off her new album, which will definitely be one not to be missed, Joss closed off her set and left the crowd wanting much more.

Although short, this is one of the best shows I have seen in a very long time. If her voice, song writing skills and her presence are even a fraction of what they were live on her new album it will catapult her into stardom on this side of the Atlantic.

- Julie Hunter 




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