It was all love at the Orpheum theatre when James Blake performed on Tuesday night.
One attendee described the general vibe as “a brooding trance”. The show took place two days after Blake’s 28th birthday, a day which he playfully noted was “spent in New Orleans,” a city he expressed a fondness for during many short and sweet intervals throughout last night’s show.
“Coming to New Orleans was a sorts of bucket list item, but we’ve done it.” he said.
Blake was somewhat awkward whilst addressing the crowd, but you could tell that it was because of the soul and energy that he puts into his performance. His calm, even-toned voice went well with the slow pulse of the audience. He played ten songs off of his latest album, The Colour In Anything, as well as a number of covers, including one of Beyonce’s “Forward.”
After stating that the song would be the last of the night, Blake played “The Wilhelm Scream,” took a deep bow and walked off the stage. Not a single step was taken toward the exit doors, and the applause and pleading cheers for his return continued for a full five minutes before he took the stage once more, this time alone.
“I’m going to make kind of a leap, but this leap, it could be invaded quite easily. There’s no participation in this one, it’s just me.” James explained to the mesmerized crowd. “Every night I try to rephrase that, sometimes it’s kind of rude. I hope that was… Inoffensive.”
The ensuing encore performance of “Measurements” kept completely hypnotized. You could have heard a pin drop, and even if one had, the people nearby would have given it a soothing “shhh”.
Photo by Jayna Puchkoff.
All photos by Jayna Puchkoff
