By Sarah Groszewski.
Craig David headlined the second Saturday of the Southampton Summer Sessions with his TS5 show which is on tour this summer. The daytime lead up to this concert was like a throwback to my teen years – pre-drinks, nail painting, facial glitter and the Craig David playlist on repeat. Dressed like we were young and carefree once again (but wearing flats these days, because I’m in my 40s now and have a bad back…) we headed into town ready to party like it’s 2003.
And what a party it was! Sadly, because it’s not actually 2003 and we had adult responsibilities to deal with before party time, we didn’t see DJ Fresh and arrived just as Patrick Nazemi was starting the second warm up act. The crowd were in high spirits and DJ Fresh had clearly done what he came to do and warmed the crowd up nicely.
I had never heard of Patrick Nazemi who was described as “a mix of garage, hip-hop and house” which isn’t music I particularly enjoy so I expected that we’d spend the warm-up time chatting and drinking. But he was incredible! He perfectly tailored his set to the elder millennial audience and had everyone dancing along to the music of our youth including some early 2000s club classics, and some singalong faves such as Dizzee Rascal and Whitney. The crowd went wild when Insomnia came on, and just when it seemed like he couldn’t get any better he had everyone rapping along to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Craig David ran a bit late, but nobody noticed or cared because Patrick Nazemi had us all living our best lives.
Patrick Nazemi’s set ended and there was a seamless transition to Craig David, who also came out dressed like it was 2003 in double denim and a hoodie. He opened with a few words about how excited he was to be back in his home town, reflecting an Instagram post he shared earlier in the week of him singing a gorgeous acoustic version of Wake Up outside his childhood home.
His set was a mix of live vocals, DJing and MCing which I think can sometimes be a risky mix when the audience has come to see a particular artist and is maybe expecting only that artist’s songs, but Craig David nailed it. The set list couldn’t have been more perfect – he opened with Re Rewind followed by Fill Me In, and moved on to his own spin on a string of hits from the 90s and early 2000s including TLC, Destiny’s Child, House of Pain and Justin Bieber, and a few remixes of his own songs. It was a show that was all about the music; a simple stage setup, only him on stage and he got on and played the music without much talking at the audience. The mix of DJing and MCing as well as him singing meant the song transitions were seamless, making it high energy for the full 90 minutes. We kept waiting for a rubbish song to come on so we could nip to the loo and the bar, but it never happened. He ended with a couple of his own songs including 7 Days and then… it was over. Nobody moved after the fairly abrupt ending, expecting an encore, but there was none. It ended on a high, but I was disappointed it was over as it was the best night out I’ve had in ages.
This was my second Summer Sessions event this year, having seen Rag n Bone man last weekend, and Tom Jones last summer. Guildhall Square is one of my favourite venues. I’m a huge fan of live music and outdoor events, but my days of struggling to get transport home or travelling for hours are well behind me. Summer sessions is so convenient, easy to get to, fairly affordable compared to other similar venues, and it’s just beautiful watching the sun go down while listening to your favourite artists. I was pleased to see a completely separate low and no alcohol bar for those avoiding alcohol, and a limited but nice selection of food trucks. Summer Sessions are a real community event, we overheard people during the day talking about going to see Craig David, the City Centre bars were overflowing, the streets full of people making their way there, and the crowd was full of familiar faces. It’s so great to see big artists coming to Southampton and feeling the collective excitement and it seemed really fitting for Craig David to be part of that back where he grew up. Although it does feel like I’m the only person in Southampton who doesn’t have tickets for McFly tonight and I have serious FOMO!
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