It has always been difficult to describe Neneh Cherry‘s musical style. She’s spent the 30 years since her breakthrough album, Raw Like Sushi, navigating her way through a seemingly endless variety of genres. Each record is different from the one before and it is because of this continuous innovation that she is still selling out venues like the one tonight with ease. It is arguable that her refusal to stand still or do what is expected has also been the greatest barrier to her becoming a true global superstar.
Tonight’s show was originally scheduled to take place in the much smaller Trinity Centre but was quickly upgraded to SWX after selling out so quickly. It is clear from the demand that even this room was too small for her.
We must first shout out to tonight’s support act, Greentea Peng. The South London soul singer’s sound is reminiscent of Frank-era Winehouse and she does an incredible job of setting the tone for Cherry’s set. Her impressive new single, Moonchild, has been getting a few spins from 6 Music and she’s definitely one to keep an eye on for the future. The name of that track isn’t missed by members of the audience playfully asking her for (Neneh‘s 1989 hit) Manchild which she playfully laughs off.
There is something very exciting about seeing an artist like Neneh Cherry in the flesh. Despite being a significant musical presence for three decades, she often takes several years between albums and so it feels like something of an event when she comes to town. Boosted by what the lady herself calls her “long and deep roots” in Bristol, the appearance of her silhouette on the dark stage is enough to cause the audience to erupt into deafening cheers.
The set then begins with Fallen Leaves from her incredible 2018 album, Broken Politics. Her voice is simple and understated but immediately recognisable. Her immaculate vocal performance of this song sets the tone for a set in which Neneh never falters. That isn’t to say that this is an overly polished performance. The setlist has been shuffled each evening to retain a sense of spontaneity.
Neneh points out that she is not one for nostalgia or reminiscing and, indeed, tonight’s show is built around her latest album and she plays every track from it. It isn’t always a great idea for artists with such rich back catalogues to mainly focus on new material which a large part of the audience will be unfamiliar with but tonight’s show absolutely benefits from it. Broken Politics is, undoubtedly, Neneh Cherry’s greatest work yet. It’s a beautifully personal and reflective piece of work which, if by a brand new artist, would have won all of the awards already.
It feels a little reductive to speak about artists like Neneh Cherry in terms of their age but it is also very difficult to not at least touch on the fact that, at 54, she is pushing musical boundaries more than ever before and delivering a show far more exciting and experimental than the majority of new, younger artists right now.
The band are incredible – often swapping instruments, each member is heavily involved in creating tonight’s eclectic sound. There’s trip hop and club bangers, hip hop and slow jams, electro and house. The Four Tet-produced Blank Project turns SWX into a rave and, for a moment, the sun has gone down on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury. This is a show that is made for festival; if she’s playing at any of the ones that you are attending this Summer then we would urge you to stick her on your clashfinder.
She dutifully performs the mega hits that the crowd are calling out for – Manchild, 7 Seconds and Buffalo Stance all result in enormous sing-a-longs – but, actually, it is the new material that are the real stars of the show.
