While their fortunes may have faded since Jamiroquai last swung on by in 2001, there’s no sign of it in The Point tonight, the very venue they previously visited. Hell, in his crazy-hat-sporting head, Jay Kay is in fact playing an outdoor stadium: there’s a ramp between the two drumkits which allows him to intermittently jump on top to bust a few moves; otherwise he’s running the breadth of the stage, as if having watched one Guns N’ Roses live video too many. It’s all documented by two gigantic side screens, set to the spectacular backdrop of a light show and the support of eight musicians.
It’s a slick performance, but one that smells a little too much like air freshener over, er, less favourable odours. After an over-rehearsed rendition of ‘Cosmic Girl’, Jay begins to speak, stops, then waits for the cheers to swell to a climax before giggling “That’s so embarassing” in his thick London accent. No it’s not, you plonker, you just orchestrated that moment of self-congratulation.
You want to sing along to the chorus of ‘Alright’? Sure, but don’t forget to clap your hands to the drumbeat. A cliched introducing-the-band moment? No problem. And to top it all off, I’ll walk on to the encore with a life-sized tricolour: that’s a surefire way to get the crowd on my side.
I wonder whether the die-hard fans taking their tops off at the front know that they’ve been manipulated so. But as a union of smiles pile out of The Point, the more poignant question is whether they’d actually care.
SHILPA GANATRA