Embarking on her European tour, Megan Nicole played her first full headlining show in the UK last night at Manchester academy. Providing a show length of 75 full minutes (which is more than a lot of gigs I’ve seen recently) Megan proved that she was the great musician and performer that her legions of UK fans had come to expect from her YouTube videos and StageIt shows.
Megan has a stage presence that a lot of artists should learn from and gives nothing short of a great (and shows us the exact definition) of performance. For the run time of the show, she made the stage her own, showing great connection with her band members and the audience in front of her. Her vocal talents are also highly impressive as her previous songs and videos have suggested (sometimes in a live capacity an artist can fall short on their promise which wasn’t the case here) as she utilised dynamic range combined with an enthusiastic talent as she hit all the notes in each song and hardly faltered.
The band that Megan performs with are also great musicians – Will Pearce & Aaron Lagrone – (especially recording and playing with the mix of pre-recorded instruments and synth that took place in several songs) providing drums, percussion, guitar and backing vocals with the same level of talent and enthusiasm. The performance as a whole from all three of them was high in energy and excitement, which the fans responded to with equal levels of excitement.
Without doubt the memorable highlight of this show (and for all the shows that are still to come) is that we got to hear some of her original songs for the first time (or at least in a live capacity) that really do show off her song writing and performing talent. Highlights of the original material include ‘Snapshots (Best Days Of Our Lives)’ which was a great opener, ‘Earthquake’ which featured a Pat Benatar sample, her popular single ‘Summer Forever’ and ‘Look At What You’ve Done’ which was a great song to close the show. All of these songs have a great party vibe to them covering a range of genres such as pop, rock, funk and electro (amongst others) that were greatly received and would easily get to the top of the pop charts.
Cover songs were also expected at this gig; especially for the fact that myself and I’m sure many others prefer the versions that Megan produces (such as her cover of Taylor Swifts ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’). There are a couple of things that should be noted when performing a cover song. If you want it to have a good impact then it needs to be a great performance of the song or it has to have your own musical stamp on it. Suffice to say Megan does both of those aspects extremely well. If you are an artist that wants to do your own cover version of popular songs, Megan is a great influence to show you how to do it properly.
The music that Megan currently produces is great but it’s no insult to say she is capable of much more, after all she has a fully successful career ahead of her. Megan has a great tone and strength to her voice that would suit blues, jazz and swing perfectly. Those aspects did come into play a couple of times in a few songs and I hope that she does release something along those lines in the future.
When a show leaves you with an excited feeling that makes you want to go to every future show you can of an artists current tour, it’s a clear sign that they provided a great show that’s high in entertainment and inspiration. If you’re a fan waiting for a show in your city, I can assure that this show will provide everything you hope it will be, and if you’re a newcomer then you’re sure to leave her show a fan.
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