To see Grace Jones once is an event... to see her twice in one year is proof there is a higher power!
On Thursday Owen and I made for the palatial surroundings of the courtyard of Somerset House to see The Empress Jones with her touring show promoting her fierce last cd HURRICANE. The week had seen unsettled weather but if anyone could take on the elements it was Grace.

We wandered around for a while trying to find the best vantage point to see the stage clear of tall people's heads... sadly the one thing the courtyard doesn't have is a rake. We settled on a spot about halfway back and waited. And waited. And waited. Grace was definitely taking a page out of Madonna's timekeeping book. At about 9.35 the black curtain at the front of the stage dropped and there she was atop her workman's crane singing "Nightclubbing" and all grumbling was instantly forgotten.

It was the same show that she appeared at the Roundhouse in January with and for my review of that you can click here but suffice to say that Thursday's show was louder and Grace even more untamed! She growled, she purred, her offstage conversation as she changed between numbers got more lascivious as the evening went on but also she became more and more vocally powerful.

It's criminal how under-rated she is as a performer and musician - one suspects if she was a male she would be compared to Prince as a real pioneer working within her genre. However it was great to be part of a crowd who were so responsive and genuinely blown away by her show.

It was fun to watch the birds swooping in circles over the audience's heads as the Sly & Robbie-esque drum and bass lines thundered around the courtyard and Grace belted out her setlist of new songs and classics. I hope somewhere along the line the show is filmed.

The new songs WILLIAMS BLOOD, THIS IS, DEVIL IN MY LIFE and LOVE YOU TO LIFE are as powerful as her 'standards' LA VIE EN ROSE, PULL UP TO THE BUMPER, LIBERTANGO, MY JAMAICAN GUY, SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM (and yes, she hula-hooped her way throught the entire song again!) and LOVE IS THE DRUG.

The title track HURRICANE again closed the show with Grace facing a huge wind machine as her huge billowing cloak stretches out behind her. It was great to see again but the effect was slightly better at the Roundhouse when the wind swept around the auditorium making it a totally theatrical moment.

Even if she finished around 11.20pm leaving a mad scramble for the loos and then the transport system, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I hope I can experience The Devil In Miss Jones again.