Live at Riverfest, Liverpool.       Sunday 7 June 2015

The homecoming gig. Local girl made good returns to her roots. From Anfield to the big time. Flawed perfection.

Love was in the air. Literally. Two Team Yakovlev planes drew a giant vapour trail heart in the sky over the Pier Head to the delight of thousands who were basking in the Sunday evening sunshine. Rebecca Ferguson carried on the theme by dedicating to Liverpool her last song of the night, Nothing’s Real but Love. This is the beautiful song which launched her career back in 2012 after she came second on the 2011 X Factor.

She had chosen to dress casually. Light grey linen trousers, white, sleeveless blouse, accessorised with a stunning necklace, and white heels. When she speaks she is still the completely down to earth, local Scouse girl, talking of getting drunk, having the flu, and stopping proceedings to point out her nephew in front of the stage. She is by no means the painfully shy singer who first appeared on X Factor and saw the nation fall in love with her and although she still appears slightly awkward with the talking side of her performance there is an innate humility that comes across. When she introduced Eleiyah Navis from Jennifer Ellison’s Dance Mums show she sang from the back of the stage and allowed the young dancer to take the limelight.

When Ferguson sings, however, there is an incredible strength. There is the resilience of true blues singers who have walked through the pain of heartache, loss and rejection and come out stronger on the other side. She wears her heart on her sleeve and talks openly about being unlucky in love and her lack of success with men. This allows her to identify with the songs that she sings.

In spite of a plea from someone in the audience for her to play the old songs she stuck to the spine-tingling Billie Holliday songs from her recent Lady Sings the Blues album and showcased her effortless jazz credentials on the up tempo Get Happy, the evocative, moody Summertime, the sentimental God Bless the Child and the playful Blue Moon. Backed by a highly accomplished jazz band with some unbelievable trumpet riffs she delighted her home crowd who left in a sunny mood in spite of experiencing the blues first hand.

@Cre8ivation