REVIEW

SOMEONE LIKE YOU - THE ADELE SONGBOOK

WEYMOUTH PAVILION

ANY tribute act to Adele, the best-selling female UK artist of all time, is always going to be about the voice.

And straight from the opening note of this exquisite show, Katie Markham - who was hand-picked by Adele herself among tribute acts on national TV - didn’t disappoint. First we saw a London backdrop, just one of many stirring visuals throughout the two hours plus show, then a six piece band….and then heard Katie’s distinctive voice doing perfect justice to Hometown Glory.

While lacking the gravelliness of Adele’s voice, Katie’s voice has a more youthful but equally as soulful timbre.

The lights didn’t go up on stage until a few bars into Hometown Glory. And what a breath-taking moment after that build-up. Katie looks so much like Adele, apes her movement and mannerisms so well, that I had to remind myself I was at good ol’ Weymouth Pavvy and not at the O2 watching the real thing.

And it’s a good thing we have shows like Katie’s, given how little the real article herself tours. The Adele Songbook was superb value for money, with hit after hit from 19, 21 and 25 just coming and coming. Katie never tried to imitate Adele’s speaking voice, having grown up a few hundred miles north of Tottenham in Scunthorpe, it just wouldn’t have worked.

Katie even performed a wonderfully haunting version of Love Song by The Cure and a slowed down version of George Michael’s Fast Love. She singled out a few of her favourites and one of them was her version of Adele’s take on the Country genre, Don’t You Remember, which brought tears to my eyes.

The show reached new levels when Katie took on some of Adele’s more funky, upbeat tracks. Her versions of Right as Rain and My Same, a song Adele wrote about her best friend Laura, sounded better than Adele’s original recordings.

While the stripped down poignancy of the song we’d all been waiting to hear, Someone Like You, was somewhat spoiled by everyone being encouraged to sing along so it felt like a drunken karaoke night, Katie’s energy and enthusiasm was second to none - and us all being encouraged to dance along to Rolling in the Deep at the end was when the audience participation felt just right.

Katie puts a lot into her shows, never failing to hit a note, and is in such demand that the show has dates booked in Australia next year. I came home feeling like I’d actually been to an Adele concert and can’t help thinking Katie Markham is likely to be a name we’ll be hearing in her own right in the near future.

JOANNA DAVIS