December 13, 2002

Ms Dynamite : London Covent Garden CC Club

She's so casual that the audience can't help but sit in the palm of her hand...

There is a moment in every artist's career when they transcend comparisons with the old guard and shatter all suitable reference points. You can pinpoint the exact moment tonight when it happens for the former Niomi Daley. Leading her band into a fiery, feedback heavy version of her new single, 'Put Him Out' Ms.Dynamite pulls out of the song at the precise moment it threatens to spag out. It's a remarkable act of self-confidence. All of a sudden, Lauryn Hill is simply the American Ms.Dynamite.

Dressed down in jeans, a white vest, gold hooped earrings and what appear to be fingerless pink marigolds, Dynamite has an affable stage presence. She looks truly comfortable up there and when flashes of concern cross her face as if she's just forgotten the words, it's really that she's so immersed in her song that she's forgotten there are a couple of hundred people in the club with her.

Those assembled are competition winners brought here by a mobile 'phone network, but there's little doubt who the real winner tonight is. Ms. Dynamite is victorious, taking a stuffy corporate back-slap session and enlivening it with the same casual vibe she was taking to raves three years ago. At one point she even half-attempts a dance routine, but flops into a laughing heap after only a few arm movements. She's so casual that the audience can't help but sit in the palm of her hand. Ms.Dynamite is a star.

Peter Robinson