Grammy award winning singer and songwriter Louisa Rose Allen aka Foxes, a stagename derived to differentiate herself from Lily Allen, played to a packed Heaven last night as part of her tour promoting forthcoming second album ” All I Need” , due for release in February of next year.
Her 2014 debut album “Glorious” netted her a UK top five, she won a Grammy with Zedd for the dance anthem “Clarity” and scored a top ten hit with “Let Go For Tonight”, so the new material is eagerly awaited by her fans.
Louisa launched into this gig with an energetic bouncy rendition of ‘Holding on to Heaven’, an aptly named song to start with given the venue, and she had the crowd jumping from the get go. She followed with new tracks, ‘Amazing’ and the charming, ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’, before going back to the title track of her first album with ‘Glorious’, a track that was used by ITV for promotion purposes and has a very familiar feel to it because of that, but also a slow track that perfectly highlights Louisa’s wonderful voice, something that maybe isn’t as well appreciated in dance numbers.
This was further illustrated by the cover of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Photograph’ , a song recently sang in the Radio One Live Lounge which slightly mashes Years and Years’, ‘Shine’, and once again highlights what a beautiful voice Louisa has. Foxes is (that’s a stage name designed to mess with grammar) no stranger to innovative LiveLounge mash ups that work really well after last year covering Pharrell’s ‘Happy’, and throwing in Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’, which was so well received that Pharrell personally offered Louisa a support slot on his Autumn 2014 European Tour.
A high point for the massed crowds of Heaven was ‘Body Talk’, a new and upbeat track which seemed to have everyone punching the air with delight; the audience at Heaven is always responsive to a hi energy beat. Then after a medley of older songs Louisa launched into a rousing finale, introducing the title track from her new album, followed by the crowd pleaser and Grammy Award winning ‘Clarity’, before finishing with her new single ‘Better Love’, a song which really marries itself well with Louisa’s pure pop vocals.
The crowd stamped their feet and demanded more from this energetic young performer and they were not disappointed as Foxes ran back on stage bare footed, which must have been a relief for her feet after an hour in stack heeled boots, and launched into a fantastic performance of last year’s top ten hit, ‘Let Go For Tonight’, which was made all the more magical by an explosion of glitter and hundreds of balloons falling from the ceiling. Foxes’ energetic lighting team had looked like they were thoroughly enjoying their jobs all night as they fired a wonderful laser show throughout the evening, but they were never happier than when they released the balloons. Everyone left Heaven with that same buzz and feeling of happy enjoyment. Thanks Foxes; we were holding out for Heaven and you delivered.
Steve Holley is a live music enthusiast from London. His son Max is a singer-songwriter. Stay tuned for more of Steve’s updates, and an interview with Max.
