A cathedral of a voice

"One day he will open his mouth and a cathedral will fall out"

Thanks to our friend Maria, I was invited (gratis) to see the very wonderful Mr David McAlmont live on stage at the Leicester Square Theatre last night.

What a brilliant evening it was too! I have always loved Mr McAlmont's soulful camp three-octave voice, his diverse collaborations - including with Bernard Butler (ex Suede), Bond theme composer David Arnold, and with esoteric modernist Michael Nyman - and his flamboyant gayness in an often homophobic black music world.

He arrived on stage with an air of nervousness, despite his fantabulosa feathers, fouff and faff outfit and dripping diamanté! He admitted to having had several sleepless nights in preparation for this event (it didn't help that this was being recorded for CD and DVD), and had caught a cold in the process. True, his voice was a little "cracked" in the opening numbers.

But like all true divas he soon got carried away by the performance, and by the time he had finished his classic rendition of Diamonds Are Forever he had regained his powers and had the audience enraptured! Then, in an innovative twist he invited our MySpace mate (and chief Almondette) Ange to become "Pythoness, Priestess of Delphi" for the evening - basically shaking a pair of dice to see which "who, what, when, where, how" questions were invited from the audience between each song... All you could hear from Ange for the rest of the evening was clickety-clack :-)

Classic followed classic - such as Blues in the Night, Unworthy and a brilliant version of the George Harrison song Isn't It A Pity?, made famous by Nina Simone. Some songs were dedicated to friends and acquaintances, including the poignantly beautiful I'm a Better Man (For Having Loved You), which he sang for a couple who are coping with the wife's diagnosis of breast cancer.

He clambered into the audience itself to sing a breathtaking slowed-down version of Dame Shirley's Never, Never, Never for the mum of another friend, and the sheer emotion of the moment brought a lump to the throat.

David McAlmont - Never Never Never

But even such a skilled balladeer as David can't keep the tone slow and lush for too long, and so the moment arrived for him to introduce his very special guest to the stage, the aforementioned Bernard Butler! And so came the more guitar-driven, sometimes upbeat hits - You Do, Yes, Falling and the rest.

McAlmont & Butler - You Do

McAlmont & Butler - Yes

McAlmont & Butler - Falling

The audience loved it (two standing ovations!), John-John loved it, Maria loved it, I loved it - With or without Bernard, ballads or bop, Mr McAlmont gave a spectacular performance, and one I am very glad I had the opportunity to see!

David McAlmont on MySpace