Review Jill Scott at Manchester Academy

In Gigs

Archived: This event was in 2007.

Nicola Hatton tells us why Jill Scott is 'The Real Thing'.

On early arrival a sizeable crowd had already gathered. We trooped, with eager anticipation, out of the freezing damp into the equally chilly, 'newly refurbished' Academy 1. The Real Thing is the long awaited third studio offering from Miss Scott since Beautifully Human impressed with its soulful, celebratory storytelling in 2004. Unlike LCD Soundsystem at the Academy a fortnight earlier, who entertained a raucous rabble of rich-kids, this delighted and loved-up crowd ranged anywhere from 18 to 60.

At £30 a ticket this was no snip, but Jill Scott sang for every penny, solidly for two hours with no less than 11 musicians behind her. A tight brass section made impressive use of wah-wah style muting in some songs, giving them a 1930s-jazz feel. Elsewhere, classic dance tracks like Golden were intensified with the prominent harmonies of her three backing singers. Despite announcing like so many bands that the evening was all about sharing her new material, Scott also verified her long-standing ability to send a chill down my spine with beautiful renditions of A Long Walk and The Way you Love Me.

Scott also impressed in exposing several contrasting personas throughout her performance. Through song, chat and mime, her complexity as a performer came to the fore. After the boisterous soul diva, the storyteller and the philosopher I was not prepared for the sweet girly tones in All I, which cheekily hinted at her current celibacy. This was underlined at during several points throughout the evening as, in and between songs, she frankly revealed the uncomfortable inspiration for her new album - a divorce that took her by surprise and her subsequent re-adjustment into the world as a single woman. Jill introduced the The Real Thing’s themes of temptation and loneliness with cheerful self-deprecation, and tongue-in-cheek cravings for food and sex.

Ultimately, the fans went home with two assurances from the Academy gig. Firstly, the contradictions and diversity in her performance showed that she has not yet found a satisfactory answer to the question posed by her debut album: Who Is Jill Scott? Secondly, despite her fame and enduring virtuosity, Jill Scott refuses to take herself too seriously.