I’ve always been very lucky when it comes to seeing the musical acts that I love play live, whereas a lot of people have a big, long list of people (both alive or dead) that they’d love to/would have loved to go and see, but for one reason or another they just haven’t got round to it; mine currently stands at just three.
Well, it’s about to be just two.*
*(Erasure and The Smiths seeing as you asked).
Since her breakout album that was chock full of singles – 1986’s Control – Janet Jackson has been one of the world’s few true megastars. You could keep your Whitney’s and Madonna’s, Jackson was my fave pop star from that album onwards, and being so massive you would think that would make her easier not harder to catch somewhere live, but alas our paths have never crossed, until this evening.
It’s fair to say that heightened does not quite cover my excitement levels.
The only cloud on the pop horizon is the venue, the enemy of the good gig-going people of the North-West, the much maligned Co-op Live, not the easiest place to get to on paper and just 25 English pounds to park up. But to nay-say the doom-mongers every member of staff I came into contact with, from the car park to the box office to the under-used (due to those world-famous drinks prices) bar staff were absolutely delightfully friendly, and any teething problems they had seem to be well sorted.
So far, still so giddy and then…Wyclef Jean.
Strolling on through a hole in the immensely complicated stage design, guitar resplendent around his neck, he enters with his cover of ‘No Woman No Cry’.’ There’s just him and a DJ spinning backing tracks throughout his set. A couple of the big Fugees numbers follow, after his relentless cries to the crowd of “Where my Fugee babies at?” He then moves onto his solo stuff, whilst trying to cram everything into half an hour. He could have done without the guitar behind head then playing it with his mouth solo, and I hope he has a good reason why there was no ‘Gone Til’ November’, his most magnum opus by a country mile. He describes himself as “the man behind the music” none more so than on what sounded like was due to be his big finish, Shakira‘s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ (which he appears on) but this seems to have the plug pulled on it after just a minute and a very sharp exit is made (he did seem to be over-running).
One of the screens behind him declared him as the “legendary” Wyclef Jean, very arguable but a crowd-pleasing 30 minutes it made for.
But this was, of course, just the side order. The main course was to be Janet running the full gamut of her distinguished career, with songs reflecting a different era, set in four parts.
The interval saw us gawping in wonder at those almost £9 pints (whilst still not expensive enough to stop drinking them, which is the problem; whilst there are people paying it, venues will charge it), wishing we were still young and hip enough to raid the merch stall, whilst discussing big gigs in general. Do you think arena acts have any idea how much money they make from each gig? Are the figures so big now that they just become the norm to them?
And then at 9:10, the time had come, just the 38 years in the making.
The stage set up seemed quite basic for an arena show – a large stage with no props, a smaller circular stage in the middle behind a curtain from where she made her big reveal, standing stock still on a massive glass cube in front of screens.
The first chunk of the show sees her play a bunch of her more, it has to be said, lesser-known recent songs, so it’s a bit subdued audience reaction where it maybe should have been a big opener. Her five male dancers and herself are decked out in all grey, with Jackson in a winter coat, which somehow gets removed magically leaving her in a sparkly suit.
With a set of 39 songs it is clear that we are not getting each one in full. After the initial blast of the first five then there’s the first onstage pause which she uses for a drinks break and the crowd use it to give her a well-deserved welcoming ovation before she’s back at it with ‘All Nite (Don’t Stop)’.
The circular mini-stage comes into its own as it becomes obvious that there is also a live band behind the screens. And the end of act one sees the singles start to seep out – ‘Got ‘Til It’s Gone‘ straight into ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’ which gets the arena on it’s feet but the first proper highlight is a furious ‘Love Will Never Do (Without You)’ which manages to shake off the Tuesday night ennui and sees the crowd finally get going although it has been pointed out to me that it can be argued that she never had a killer, recognised by everyone, hit unlike those named enough.
Act Two is the reason why we are here, a be-tartaned JJ and those dancers now in kilts roar straight into a row of classics. ‘What Have You Done For Me Lately’ would be plenty on it’s own, but followed by the classic “give me a beat” intro to ‘Nasty’, ‘The Pleasure Principle’, and ‘When I Think Of You’, show just what a record Control is. It’s breathtaking (literally, as you cannot help but dance to it).
There’s a snatch of her single with Herb Alpert, ‘Diamonds’, before ‘The Best Things In Life Are Free ‘and ‘Control’ keep up the exhilarating pace. The moves from all involved are immaculate; she doesn’t miss a beat vocally, but she’s obviously getting a bit tired as we move on to the slow section. But there’s no let-up in the quality or variety as she goes from the quaint, child-like ‘Let’s Wait Awhile’ to the raunchy ‘I Get Lonely’ in just a handful of tunes.
The formerly backstage band are now brought forward to the main stage and it looks more like a proper set up before act three sees the return of the cubes and Jackson suspended on high in what looks like an ‘Stay Another Day‘ East-17 winter jacket. This part sees most of the tracks hail from her second big album, 1989’s Rhythm Nation 1814 , including ‘Escapade‘ and a blistering ‘Miss You Much‘ in which she declares “I’m not ashamed, to let you know Manchester, that I love you”. It’s a show surprisingly light on such audience inclusion. JJ is not know for her banter and to be honest there’s no time for such nonsense, there’s still so many bangers to fit in.
Her criminally-ignored 2007 single ‘Feedback’ and ‘So Excited’ act as an interlude of sorts in between the Rhythm Nation singles and there’s still time for another costume change seeing her and the guys now in the uniform that went alongside the visuals for that record, all black – it truly was her imperial phase. The drinks breaks are getting more frequent at this stage and who can blame her, she must be shattered, as we get routines for ‘State Of The World’ and ‘The Knowledge’ as well as her duet with brother Michael ‘Scream’ , before the undoubted highlight of the whole set, a performance of ‘Rhythm Nation’ that is so goose-pimpingly well executed to such a degree it felt like I would imagine it to have felt if I had managed to see her back in the late-80’s, worth the entrance fee alone.
That just leaves us with the two song encore of ‘Whoops Now’ and ‘Together Again’, and then it’s time to take a well-deserved breath.
If there was anything remotely critical you could point to, and it’s such a weird thing to moan about, but maybe there were TOO many songs. Rather than 39 pieces, maybe do 20 all the way through? Maybe it’s because she doesn’t have that mega-hit or two that her contemporaries had, but that is nit-picking of the highest order.
It may only be the second greatest live female pop extravaganza of the year (don’t worry Girls Aloud, that title is still yours), but still an absolute thrill to witness and hopefully one I will get to see again a damn sight sooner than 2062.
(Photos: Solaiman Fazel)
