JESS GLYNNE SHINES BUT ‘I’D RATHER BE’ DRY & WARM SOMEWHERE ELSE

★★★☆☆ (3/5)

JESS GLYNNE PERFORMING AT SCARBOROUGH’S OPEN AIR THEATRE
PHOTOCREDIT: JOHN HAYHURST

It is one of the wettest days in June ever and the faithful fans of Jess Glynne are gathered in their pink or blue ponchos hiding from the sky and wishing that this was an indoor gig rather than the normally fabulous Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

First support act are Leicester’s ‘The Mercians’, who do a fine job of trying to get people jumping around and their pleasant pop goes down well with the mainly teen plus girls that are wedged in at the front of the barrier. Some with their Mums and Dads in tow, the more sensible ones are in heavyweight anglers ponchos finding shelter at the back.

The second support was ‘Michael Aldag’, he makes a joke early in his set about him looking like Jess’s younger sister, as he has his trademark ginger locks all tied up tight, he said “I can’t compete with Jess’s curls, so these are staying tied up”. However, when Jess Glynne took to the stage an hour later, her curls were also very much hidden under a baseball cap.

Normally I would expect those beautiful redhead curls to be flowing around her shoulders to compliment the dance moves, it is almost part of the Glynne brand, but tonight she wore this cap tight to her head, maybe to protect from the rain, although the band were covered with a roof, meanwhile we planned to go for a swim in the nearby boating lake as that would have been drier.

It didn’t detract from the performance or those vibrato vocals though, which were shining bright throughout, and if you have a plethora of hits to play, then play them, which is exactly what she did, interspersed with some cuts from her latest album ‘Jess’.

Glynne's live renditions were flawless, and she genuinely is one of the best modern day soul singers we have in the UK. Her soulful voice resonating beautifully across this very wet open-air venue. She has an ability to convey raw emotion through her music and to make people really feel part of the show by combining stellar vocal ability with engaging showmanship.

‘I’ll Be There’, ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’, ‘Thursday’ and even the Clean Bandit collaboration ‘Rather Be’ were heard all across the valley, before ending the night with ‘Hold My Hand’. Although normally I can’t hear that song without thinking about Jet2 holidays somewhere warm and sunny, tonight that wasn’t the case.

Damn you British Summer !! I need to see Jess Glynne again but in shorts and a T-shirt.