★★★★☆
After almost a decade of critical acclaim, a Mercury prize, a Top Five album and an endorsement from Barack Obama, Little Simz has finally hit the big time. Bookended by two sold-out nights at Manchester’s cavernous Victoria Warehouse, then two more at London’s humongous Alexandra Palace, this tour certainly feels like a big career step for the 29-year-old rapper, actor and author known to her Nigerian parents as Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo. “Manchester, I need you to understand that you are witnessing greatness right now,” Simz told the screaming crowd at this opening show. It was hard to disagree with her charming lack of modesty.
The sheer scale and energy of the production was certainly a change from previous Simz tours. Where once she could seem a little underpowered live, struggling to make her intimate and intricate rap confessionals project across large theatres, she has finally embraced her arena-sized fame with a giant video screen, costume changes and exaggerated pop star swagger. She has never been this dynamic on stage before, bouncing and twirling though every track, with occasional walkabouts into the crowd.
In a bold statement of self-confidence Simz performed the first half of this set solo, rapping and singing over immersive backing tracks full of lush orchestral soul, gospel, funk, grime and disco arrangements. Stylised images of a giant choir swayed on the screen behind her during the opening number, Silhouette, becoming a recurring visual motif throughout the evening. Midway through the show she was joined by two multi-instrumentalists who added extra live texture to standout tracks including the trumpet-blasting widescreen anthem Introvert and the gloriously kinetic, percussive Afro-funk jam Point and Kill.
Whether calling a minute’s silence for the people of Palestine or sharing self-help advice about believing in yourself against all odds, Simz displayed impressive command of the Manchester crowd all night. Crucially, after five excellent albums she now has enough high-grade material to deliver 90-plus minutes of wall-to-wall bangers, from dreamy crowd-pleasers such as Selfish to her mighty recent track Gorilla — the rubber-limbed bounce and hyper-dextrous wordplay went down a storm. For all her apparent bulletproof arrogance, her soul-searching lyrics told a more nuanced story of family tensions, mental health struggles, racism and sexism and music industry battles. This more brittle, emotionally open side is a huge part of her universal appeal.
Nov 6, academymusicgroup.com, then touring, littlesimz.com
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