The four members of Olympia Vitalis’ band take to the stage as a swooning anticipation curtails any chatter around Kings’ Place. A pin drop silence engulfs the rounded assembly, who fan all four corners of the venue with their curious excitement.
Tension stretches over the room as the silence is held, until the band snaps into motion with keys, strings, bass riffs, and drums that embody a 007-esque elegance. The leading lady strides to the fore, her beautiful dark sequin dress weaving light through the hall’s shadowed corners. With the stage set, the velvet curtain of mystique falls with Olympia’s first words, “I’m sorry can we stop this. I have KOKOROKO in my ear.”
Gliding over the technical error with a nonchalant giddiness, the connective tissue of the audience relaxes with her conversational passes. “I really wanted a dramatic entrance,” she admits with a laugh and a smirk.
The crowd is undeterred as the band resets. The operatic intro leads into a water tight rendition of the forthcoming ‘Give your Love’. With elegance and ease, Vitalis voices her blues imbued take on soul music, traversing pitches and octaves, mesmerising the crowd with an unwavering presence and commitment to delivery.
The opening trio of songs personifies the singer songwriter’s versatility, progressing from a brooding sombre into bites of attitude and assertiveness. Kings Place sways as the band moves through Money Tree, and Daze, impeccably spinning the recorded versions to meet their instrumental prowess.
The alchemy happening on stage makes one thing abundantly clear; Olympia Vitalis’ music is built for concert halls and stages. While the drama of her songwriting is more than present when listened to at home, the songs thrive in the freedom of a live setting. The audience hangs from every line, hook, and sequence as the 27 year old rising star takes us back to last year’s ‘People Watching’ EP, with seamless renditions of ‘Narcissus’ and ‘Younger’.
From throwback tracks to upcoming singles, Vitalis performs a “pulse-check” on ‘Easy’, a blushing track that doesn’t shy away from the romance that Olympia has previously admitted to swerving in her music. The audience confirms that there is certainly a pulse, the track earning a rapturous response that drowns out the singer’s following words, as she is forced to accept the fact that sometimes you just can't beat a good old-fashioned love song.
The evening's conversational interludes are as revealing as the music itself. Vitalis makes no attempt to construct an impenetrable wall between her and the audience, instead inviting us into the stories behind the songs with the ease of a seasoned storyteller.
From throwback tracks to upcoming singles, Vitalis performs a “pulse-check” on ‘Easy’, a blushing track that doesn’t shy away from the romance that Olympia has previously admitted to swerving in her music. The audience confirms that there is certainly a pulse, the track earning a rapturous response that drowns out the singer’s following words, as she is forced to accept the fact that sometimes you just can't beat a good old-fashioned love song.
The evening's conversational interludes are as revealing as the music itself. Vitalis makes no attempt to construct an impenetrable wall between her and the audience, instead inviting us into the stories behind the songs with the ease of a seasoned storyteller.
There is a playful honesty to her exchanges, even as she acknowledges the label representatives scattered around the room. Beneath the humour lies an artist acutely aware of the moment she is in, comfortable enough to poke fun at the industry while simultaneously delivering a performance that makes a compelling case for her own place within it.
That confidence carries into ‘Care For Me’ and ‘Mercy’, before the room settles into a different kind of intensity for ‘Don’t Cry’. The shifts in mood are handled with an assuredness that belies Vitalis’ age. Her voice moves between delicate, bluesy inflections and more commanding declarations.
It is here that the band deserves particular recognition. The drummer is a constant source of kinetic energy, driving the arrangements forward with a precision that occasionally threatens to steal the spotlight. The keys, meanwhile, provide the rich harmonic foundations on which Vitalis builds her vocal flourishes. Together, the musicians create a sound that feels both meticulously rehearsed and properly alive.
The tempo shifts again as the set moves through ‘Angel Patience’ and ‘Curls’ before landing on a personal favourite of mine, ‘Baby Blues’. The tenderness of the subject is broached by Olympia, who reveals the struggles of post-natal depression affecting a family member made it a topic she needed to speak on with her songwriting.
As ‘Lady Luck’ brings the main set to a close, the sense of occasion is difficult to ignore. This is an artist with the vocal ability, musical vision and stage presence to make a lasting impression, but it is her songwriting that ultimately anchors the performance.
The encore, her latest release with Common Saints, ‘December Sunshine’, offers a fitting final note to an evening that has moved between cinematic drama, playful conversation and moments of genuine musical intimacy. Any technical hiccups that threatened the opening have long since faded into insignificance.
As the lights come up, the chatter that buzzed around the room pre-show rekindles, this time soaked with praise for the performance we had all just witnessed. It’s hard not to feel we’ve been lucky enough to witness an artist at the beginning of a beautifully important career.
Words: Tyrone Bulger
Pictures: Watskin
