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Furtado's reinvention from sweet songbird into sassy hip-hop diva has undoubtedly been successful and the quality of recent material deserves to quash the simmering rumblings that she has 'sold out'. The show's opening certainly highlighted her newfound 'Bling Factor' though, with a video screen projecting the landing of a Nelly Furtado-branded helicopter. But when she can appear on stage and launch straight into the hypnotically haunting 'Say It Right' - her current hit - then all is good.
Given that her commercial renaissance with the 'Loose' album owed much to the stylised Timbaland production, it was always going to be tough to translate the sounds into a live environment. But thanks to a hard-working six-piece band (and the occasional hint of playback) the vibe was well recreated. The Timbaland vocal duties were faithfully rendered by a rapper named Socrates (presumably his earlier foray into Greek philosophy is now behind him).
However, this hip-hop style did cause serious incongruities with some of Furtado's earlier ’poppy’ material. Perhaps fearing that breakthrough hit 'I'm Like A Bird' wasn't going to sit easily alongside her latest efforts, a misguided attempt was made to update the track. Infusing the track with industrial hip-hop beats simply served to massacre the appealing purity of the original. It was tantamount to chaining a sweet, innocent virgin in an S&M dungeon. 'Turn Off The Lights' was similarly corrupted, but retained just about enough of its poppy sound to be enjoyable.
Artists should be encouraged to evolve and stay fresh, but sometimes changing things for the sake of change is an even greater crime than the risk of becoming stale.
The show sagged worse than geriatric cleavage when a few slower album tracks were given an airing, with a big gulf in quality emerging between those and the better-known singles. The tedious 'Showtime' and insipid 'Do It' sounded like Gwen Stefani cast-offs. Mind you, these days even Gwen Stefani is doing an album of pale Stefani rejects so there ya go.
This was made conspicuous by the misjudged order of the setlist, which lumped these weaker tracks together and made it into a war of attrition for the crowd. During this period, punctuated by the chattering of alienated concert-goers, it seemed that many in attendance wished they were indeed 'like a bird' and could fly away. Such was the wave of apathy Furtado even semi-jokingly asked 'do you want your money back?'
Thankfully the show picked up with a rousing rendition of 'All Good Things' - which worked in a beefed up live form far better than the slightly dreary studio recording. But rather like that glove device on Torchwood that resuscitates the dead for an extra lease of life only to plunge them back into the realms of nothingness, we were soon back planning our shopping lists courtesy of a version of her upcoming Timbaland/Timberlake collaboration 'Give It To Me'. A true aural atrocity, this was followed by a rather turgid B-Side that didn’t find its way onto the album for a good reason.
Nell Furtado’s voice is a curious creature. At times it resembles a bizarre hybrid of a Dalek and that chick from Aqua, but there were many occasions in the second half of the concert when Furtado transcended any notion of grating monotony and showcased her dazzling, soulful range. A well judged cover of mega-anthem 'Crazy' epitomised this, as did a beautiful, pared-down performance of 2004 single 'Try'. Whilst an array of contemporary performers like Madonna and Kylie are exposed as weak singers in a live capacity, Furtado's vocals are surprisingly multi-dimensional.
In fact, perhaps the concert would have worked better with one's eyes closed courtesy of the four ever-present dancers who cluttered up the front of the stage. It was not so much 'Woah, Nelly' as 'Why Nelly'? About as aesthetically pleasing as Britney's freshly shaven bonce, their conspicuously bad routines were a needless distraction from the eye-pleasing Furtado, especially when their moves often resembled the grace of frogs in a blender.
The multi-tiered stage layout worked fine when Furtado was on higher ground, but when she ventured out towards the front of the stage she was often lost amidst the aimless thrashing of the dancers' limbs. Furtado has enough star-power to command the stage for herself, so would be well advised to bin this wasteful debris. Throughout the night she exuded a very disarming, cheerful manner that bodes well for future mega-stardom and larger scale gigs. The mid-size venue of the Hammersmith Apollo was suitable as it effectively represents where Nelly Furtado is as a live experience.
Some fun was to be had with the Euro 2004 football song 'Forca' - despite being a train wreck of a song with its desperation to be an anthem - with inflatable footballs thrown into the crowd. It's a shame David Beckham wasn't in the crowd to volley the balls hard back at the dancers and knock them off the stage.
One rare example of when everything clicked was on 'Glow' - a fantastic energetic number when for once the dancers - in tandem with Furtado - actually served to complement the song. One wonders what Simon Le Bon, who was in attendance, thought about 'No Hay Igual's ripping off the chorus from Duran Duran's glorious 'Notorious' though.
A high-energy climax to the night saw two of last year's megahits - 'Maneater' and 'Promiscuous' - send the crowd soaring into a frenzy. Perhaps having these songs in her armoury paradoxically worked against her, especially when both were saved until the end. Given their sheer popularity and accessibility, it felt like so much of what went before paled in comparison.
Furtado certainly has the right attributes to put on top quality gigs in the future. The voice, looks and personality are all there - but the depth of material isn't. For now…
