Macy almost called in sick tonight. She was, she says, screaming so loudly that she almost lost her voice. Then Naomi Campbell called, and managed to talk her round. Eh? For a start, surely almost losing your voice constitutes a daily warm-up exercise if you happen to be Macy Gray. Secondly, how wild must one's diva tendencies actually be if it's Naomi Campbell who talks you out of your strop?
Well, wild enough to spunk away 'I Try' as your first song, it would appear. This would be fine if the rest of Gray's ouevre was a little less drab. As it is, the songs only rarely match Macy's charisma, glamour and nifty red wig/tartan suit combo, while the show itself only comes alive when Macy herself runs riot. Her hair explodes like an airbag as the wig comes off, she rolls on the floor while someone goes through songwords on a flipchart and then she wipes her nether regions with a towel and hurls it into the audience. Tonight Macy Gray is at her absolute Maciest and it's a thundering success. But the tunes? Well, perhaps they just called in sick.
Peter Robinson
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