On June 6, 2023 a wide variety of folks gathered at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre to enjoy a performance by UK artist Corinne Bailey Rae. Seriously, it was probably one of the most interesting of audiences I’ve ever seen as an avid concert goer, with attendees ranging from early-twenty-something college students to middle aged couples to grey-haired women. My theory is that if you discovered Corinne Bailey Rae during her debut back in 2006 (I’m talking “Like A Star” “Put Your Records On” era), you were either an adult, driving and hearing her on the car radio for the first time, or you were a kid in the backseat listening along. I was the latter. CBR’s music has been a huge part of my life from a young age, so it only felt right to see the legend herself perform in person.
Aside from the colorful stage lights, instruments, and a small table for CBR’s water bottle and tambourine, the stage was pretty bare. No opening act to hype up the audience, no smog machine, no elaborate stage decor or any of the high-stimulation live performance gimmicks that I’ve been so accustomed to— I worried that the show wouldn’t be as good without these things. Then CBR stepped out with her band clad in a sparkling emerald jumpsuit, all smiles and went straight to killing it with a performance of “Been to the Moon”, the funky groove off of her most recent album “The Heart Speaks In Whispers”. It took every ounce of self-control in me to keep from getting up and dancing. I had never been to a concert where we were all just sitting down, and I think that’s due to a good portion of the audience being middle aged and up. Regardless, everyone was moving in some way and enjoying themselves by singing along or wiggling their heads to the beat like I was.
She then went on to play several of her other hits like “Closer”, “Breathless”, the bluesy “Til It Happens To You”, her cover of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love” (only CBR can take a pre-existing song and make it her own), and the upbeat “Paris Nights/New York Mornings”. The lights faded into a warm green for “Green Aphrodisiac”, which I can only describe as smooth, sensual soul. This is probably my favorite song of hers, but my only qualm during the live performance was the lack of background vocals, which are such a crucial part of the song. I worried that without background vocals the ending would be too naked, but to my surprise CBR invited the audience to sing the repeated “nananana” outro, and we didn’t sound too bad either—at least according to the singer, who gave us many moments of humor and warmth such as these throughout the show.
The most touching moment during her time on stage was probably her performance of “Do You Ever Think of Me?”, which she said was influenced by an unfinished Curtis Mayfield song. Written in response to her late-husband’s passing, she described the song as the feeling you gets when the loss of a loved one “leaves a hole in the universe.” It’s romantic but also deeply melancholy, and her performance of it was just stellar. CBR, who is known for her soft vocal presence, soothed us with an angelic falsetto and a fast vibrato that definitely pointed to her Mayfield influence. In a 2019 interview with jazz artist Jon Batiste, CBR talked about how having a “small” voice put limitations on what kind of songs she could sing, and how this frustrated her earlier in her career. But this small voice is precisely what draws so many people to her music. She has achieved such an intimate tone that’s unique to her, not to mention that her live performance sounded exactly like the studio recordings.
“Put Your Records On” was among some of the last songs to be played, and everyone couldn’t help but sing along. “Like A Star”, like many of the other down-tempo songs, was played even more slowly and emotionally, allowing the audience to linger in the moment. It seemed at times that CBR didn’t want to leave the stage, and we didn’t want her to either. To watch an artist who I practically grew up with play all the songs I know by heart, and to watch her enjoy every minute of it was an experience I’ll never forget. If I could, I’d do it all again.
Photos by Vanessa Tirok.
