She might have postponed her Berlin show by four months, but this soul princess proved that she was worth the wait!
On 27th March, Etta Bond played an intimate gig at Prince Charles nightclub and gave the crowd a night to remember. The singer seems totally down to earth and could be seen chatting with people in the courtyard before the show started.
It was, however, somewhat of a relief when she came onto the small stage instead, as the support artist – BAD WITH PHONES – gave a fairly lacklustre performance. The audience struggled to connect with the music, not helped by the fact that few songs had any sort of hook. The artist lacked much stage presence and the only moment of note was near the end of his set where the beat kicked in and he made echoing cawing sounds into the microphone; rather bizarre but at least it added some interest.
The change in atmosphere was tangible as Bond herself walked onto the stage. Rather than milling about with drinks and chatting, the crowd turned as one towards the front and gave the singer their complete, laser-focused attention. It was clear that although Prince Charles only hosted a fairly small number of spectators, the vast majority of them were die-hard Etta Bond fans. Chatting with one man before the show who was seeing her live for the second time, he summed up his thoughts, “Three words: Life. Changing. Experiences.”
Three words: Life. Changing. Experiences.
The tour coincides with a ballsy double album drop. The first half of the project – a nine-track album entitled He’s Not Mine – was released on March 15th. The second part – He’s Mine – features another nine tracks and comes out 29th March. Despite mentioning the upcoming album numerous times throughout the show, Bond kicked off her performance with three tracks from He’s Not Mine. Opening with the gentle chords of Back Now, this woman once again proved that she deserves the title of “soul princess” as she nailed every note and captivated the crowd with her lush vocals. Without any fanfare, she continued into If I Fall and Let Me Hit It which had the crowd swaying and singing along.
She nailed every note and captivated the crowd
Despite exuding confidence, the singer didn’t interact much with the crowd until later in the show. For the first few tracks she seemed focused on her singing, but after a while relaxed into it and chatted a little about what the songs meant to her and the upcoming album. Before launching into Shorny from the new album, she explained that she had recently fallen in love with a friend and the song was written about when things started to change between them. The song was released as a single earlier this year and Bond’s live performance had the audience completely spellbound.
As the show came to a close, the singer consoled the crowd by promising hugs to everyone after she was done. She finished with Surface, the hugely popular single from last year, which had the audience singing along again and elicited huge cheers as she finished. True to her word, she stayed after the show to mingle, taking photos, chatting comfortably, and giving out big hugs to thrilled fans. Etta Bond gave a near-flawless performance and left all who witnessed it eager to see what the new album holds.
