Written by Adithya Pratama
Photography courtesy of Jonathan Kwa and Greenhorn Productions

It has been over a year since I walked into the elegant Esplanade Theatre and saw “We Will Rock You: The Musical” during their 2008 world tour. And tonight, I finally stepped inside the waiting area 30 minutes early to see a musician whose concert is on my bucket list: Corinne Bailey Rae.

Just by taking a glimpse of the audience that started to swarm the area 15 minutes before 8 PM, I can totally say that I am underdressed. My T-shirt and jeans won’t be able to compete with a couple of Armani suits and a few cocktail dresses that came in pairs (and yeah, that too I can’t compete.) And let’s not forget those who try too hard to suit the theatre mood by working their butts of to find a killer dress and still not make the cut, fashion wise. And according to what I experienced, these are the ones that came for the sake of a song or two from Bailey Rae’s debut album.

The door opened a few minutes before 8pm, allowing everyone enough time to get settled and admire the soft fuchsia lighting that accentuated the full band set. There were no significant stage sets or electronic effects like what most performers do these days, not even gigantic TV sets that allow close up views of Bailey Rae’s facial features.  The only interesting part of waiting was the mid-40s expatriate next to me, who happily texted his nowhere-to-be-seen Indonesian girlfriend (in Indonesian!) while a twenty something model cuddled in his arms. The guy in front of me happily rubbed his neck with minyak angin as apparently the air conditioning is his biggest nightmare; I resisted my temptation to offer him a packet of Tolak Angin instead.

The lights were finally dimmed at 8.12 PM as applause filled the theatre’s outstanding acoustics. Bailey Rae came out to the stage right after her five band members, casually dressed in a black jumpsuit and cute beige flats. Another point that I have to raise here is that Bailey Rae didn’t have to cover herself in fancy dresses in order to look good on stage. She totally worked it just with her beautiful, distinctive voice.

She kicked the concert off with “Are You Here” from her 2010 album The Sea, in homage to her late husband, Jason Bruce Rae, who died of an overdose in 2008. Despite some pitch problems when she belted, the emotions behind the song shone through the strumming of her acoustic. She then continued the performance with the first single from The Sea: “Paris Nights, New York Mornings”. It’s so radio friendly, I loved it at first listen.

“Closer” was an absolutely sexy and laidback number, true to its intimacy-inviting lyrics. At this point of time, I very much regretted why I was alone. “Love’s On Its Way”, a song about changes within the society right after she bought her new guitar, was indeed soothing and relaxing.

One of the concert’s highlights for me was “Till’ It Happens To You”, which tells the story of what love feels like when it comes to you. And by then I felt like banging my head for being there alone. The band did an outstanding arrangement with the song, especially with Luke Flowers and John McCallum’s drum and guitar solos, respectively, that were pretty much out of this world.

On “The Blackest Lily”, Bailey Rae proved that she could work it with a slightly upbeat song, with amazing belting skills like on “Paper Dolls”, which, Bailey Rae recalled, is about a schoolmate who was both “a very good and a very bad girl”.

She performed not only songs from her new album, but also a cover of The Flamingo’s “I Only Have Eyes For You” and the first single from her self-titled debut, “Put Your Records On”. It is easy to tell that most of the audience was waiting for this song; apparently Bailey Rae is not as big as what I expected here in Singapore.  She wrapped the concert with songs like “Like A Star”, another single from her debut album, “I Would Like To Call It Beauty”, and “The Sea”, summing up the whole concert with an encore of Doris Day’s “Que Sera Sera”. I don’t think it has ever sounded as nice as Bailey Rae’s cover.

If I had to sum it all up in three words, Corinne Bailey Rae’s performance in Singapore would be summed up as simple, sweet and sophisticated. Without pushing it too hard with spectacular stage sets or outfits, Bailey Rae believes that her music should take centre stage through the 90 minute-performance. And indeed it has shone through, creating shivers and awe from the audience.