w/ KEVIN MARK TRAIL
MANCHESTER, APOLLO - 21.11.04
Never in my life have I seen one man command so much attention. When I heard a deafening crescendo of female screams just as a certain young gentleman was obscured from my vision by a tall person at the Apollo last Sunday, I understandably assumed that he had taken off his shirt. Wrong! When he returned to a visible part of the stage, all that was missing was his sunglasses! Yes ladies, this man is none other than Pharell Williams, and his band of merry men; N*E*R*D.
And thank God. After the frankly abysmal performance from sole support act Kevin Mark Trail, I was in need of a bit of salvation. Which was handed over on a veritable gospel sheet of crowd-pleasers such as ‘Maybe’ from current album, 'Fly Or Die'. Lesser known album tracks were delivered with aplomb, while evergreen classic ‘Rockstar’ sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy along with sexy little chart number ‘She Wants To Move’, which got just about everybody shaking their booty.
Forget R ‘n’ B. It’s time for a little R ‘n’ R: Rhythm and Rock!
Review by Anne-Marie Pattenden