Yusuf/Cat Stevens tour review: Given the reason for the event, this was no party

Singing out for the sake of the children, says David Smyth
Caring Cat: He gave stage time to two charities helping the refugee crisis
Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
David Smyth15 June 2016

The eyes of the world may have turned from Syria for a period while we wring hands at tragedy elsewhere, but the refugee crisis goes on. Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens, has kept his activism pointed in that direction, having recently visited a camp on the Turkish-Syrian border. He performed this one-off concert to benefit the charities Save the Children and Penny Appeal.

He gave stage time to representatives from both organisations, standing beneath the giant hashtag #YouAreNotAlone, and performed a new song, He Was Alone, about the plight of displaced children. It was his sole moment at the keyboard instead of the guitar, and a slow, mournful tune.

However, he is not from the Bob Geldof school of angry charity drives. Songs such as If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out and My People preached love and unity over sweet melodies. Maybe There’s a World, with its lines “I have dreamt of an open world, borderless and wide” perhaps showed where he stands in the Brexit debate, and morphed halfway through into All You Need is Love.

He also covered Curtis Mayfield’s anthem for change, People Get Ready. A five-piece backing band, including Yusuf’s long-term collaborator Alun Davies, were restrained and tasteful, but hampered by muffled sound in the Methodist venue picked by this famous Muslim.

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The crowd was warm and enthusiastic, responding most to his wise ballad, Father And Son. However, given the reason for the event, this was no party. He bid farewell at just after 8.30, saying: “A lot of people are fasting today so I’m trying to make it a bit easier.”

Toward the close his livelier song, Peace Train, helped to wrap things up on an upbeat note. It was still light as the crowd dispersed, dispensing change into buckets and feeling a little more positive about the world.

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