Jorja Smith set off on her sold-out UK tour in Norwich on the 4th of October and continued on Sunday 14th of October at Rock City, with support from Mina Rose. 21-year old Jorja, from Walsall, is known for her soulful, R&B and jazzy voice. Her stage presence was engrossing and the crowd couldn’t stop singing along and capturing her.
After arriving in the main room, the main floor was brimming, with all balcony and stair space filled with people, which was no surprise after Jorja gained much attention since winning the Brit 2018 Critics’ Choice award and featuring on the soundtrack for ‘Black Panther’. Jorja opened up with the title track “Lost and Found” off of her debut album, released 8th June, with the crowd not able to take their eyes off her. It was great to hear something from her first release, ‘Project 11’, as she sang “Something In The Way”, reminiscent of Amy Winehouse’s style, who Jorja cites as one of her main inspirations.
Mentioning that the loss of a close friend was the inspiration for “Goodbyes” emphasised the heartfelt lyrics, making the song even more meaningful and emotional when hearing it live. After “Wandering Romance” the band went into a reggae-inspired instrumental and Jorja started dancing on stage to “On Your Own”, increasing the excitement and support from the crowd. Jorja noticed a member of the audience at the start of “Lifeboats” being lifted out due to suffering from the heat, asked if she was alright and told everyone to take care of themselves, emphasising her caring personality and appreciation for the support from her fans. The lighting changed from bright peaceful purple to blue to conclude the first part of the show with the song that got her much attention, “Blue Lights”, which samples Dizzie Rascal’s track “Sirens”, sending the crowd into elation.
Jorja closed with “On My Mind”, beginning with the acoustic version and then going into the Preditah version, which got everyone dancing and full of energy. This fun-filled ending made me want the night to go on and emphasized Jorja’s talent and versatility, with her genre-spanning songs. Jorja has now finished the European leg of her tour and will now embark upon the US, first performing at Tyler the Creator’s ‘Camp Flog Gnaw’ festival. After the huge success of this tour I expect to see her continuing to flourish and selling out even bigger venues in the not so distant future.
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