Six years on from her UK farewell tour, Gladys Knight is back on the road at the age of 71. Her fans were delighted at her change of heart: standing ovations followed almost every emotional outpouring on stage.
Although she’s diversified into acting and Atlanta waffle restaurants, Knight remains the self-proclaimed Empress of Soul. At the Albert Hall, she still had the lung power and vocal nuances that made Gladys Knight and the Pips one of Motown’s greats.
A petite figure brimming with Southern charm, she roared over the band’s rumbling R&B on Love Overboard, breathed new life into her Eighties Bond theme and smouldered on Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.
Knight performed a new tune for this occasion, but her finest contemporary touch was a rendition of Stay With Me that surpassed Sam Smith’s original for soulful heartbreak. Of course, Knight had plenty of tearjerkers to choose from across the decades.
There was an odd duet of If I Were Your Woman with a backing singer young enough to be her grandson, though her version of The Way We Were was a foot-stomping, emotional triumph. “I don’t think I got no mascara now,” said Knight, wiping a tear.
When she then reminisced about Michael Jackson it might have got maudlin, though The Jackson 5’s I’ll Be There lifted the mood.
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Perhaps not for the first time, Knight pointed out that she had a hit with I Heard It Through The Grapevine in 1967 — before Marvin Gaye — and she squeezed every last drop of soul from it.
Her older brother and former Pip, Merald Knight, was just as spry during an excitable guest performance of Pharrell’s Happy. When he departed, Knight demanded the audience “be my Pips” for the luscious, lovelorn Midnight Train to Georgia.
There wasn’t quite the same reaction for the Mormon singer’s devout gospel finale. But whether being soulful or spiritual, Gladys Knight was a 71-year-old sensation.
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