Review: KT Tunstall, Royal Albert Hall Home

Iconic venue the Royal Albert Hall has closed its doors for the first time since the Blitz, and they are staging a series of live-streamed concerts to try and raise money to support the venue and staff during the closure.

Last summer, I booked tickets to see Barenaked Ladies at the Albert Hall, featuring support from KT Tunstall. The gig was meant to take place on 11 April this year, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tunstall is one of my all-time favourite vocalists, and seeing her at this historic venue is definitely on my gig bucket list.

Broadcast from her house in Los Angeles, KT Tunstall has dressed up in sequins and slippers for this exclusive performance. Featuring a mix of songs from her 15-year career, Tunstall introduces each track with some background about it. Something like "Other Side Of The World" has never seemed as relevant as it does during lockdown.

I haven't engaged much with theatre and music live streams over the past few weeks, because I thought that it would just make me sad to think of all the upcoming shows and shared experience that have been wiped from our calendars for the foreseeable future. Quite the opposite happened, though, as this particular stream brought back wonderful memories of previous gigs - such as a packed-out Glasgow Barrowlands singing along to "Feel It All" last March. It's also really lovely to hear songs that haven't had a live outing in a while, such as "On My Star" and "Another Place To Fall".

Switching between gentle folk songs and pop-rock bangers, Tunstall gives this performance the same energy she would to a packed auditorium. It's a real treat to take a break from scrolling my phone for hours to sit and engage with something.

While a livestream isn't quite the same as being at a show in person with your pals, it's an important reminder that music can still bring us together in some way until we can get back into those legendary venues.

You can visit the Royal Albert Hall website for more information on upcoming concerts in the Royal Albert Hall home series.

You can donate online to the Royal Albert Hall here

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