Craig David, tour review: Comeback king reigns supreme with bonkers and breathless solo show

Craig David has nailed the art of the thrilling one-man show, says John Aizlewood
On fire: Craig David
Rex Features
John Aizlewood21 October 2016

Transferring a radio project to the stage may seem like hubris but Craig David, now a singer with a sideline, has nailed the art of the thrilling one-man show.

His TS5 began four years ago, as a soundtrack to his Miami parties. It found a British home on Kiss and Capital Xtra and went live last July, when David played to 500 people in Hackney. Last night, the 5,000-capacity Brixton Academy was sold out. Such is the strength of David’s unlikely revival that next March he will headline at least two nights at the O2 — despite not having had a Top 10 hit between 2007 and 2015.

Last night he was wholly solo, other than a cameo from rapper Big Narstie on their Mobo-nominated When The Bassline Drops.

As a DJ, the 35-year-old, pictured, bobbed around the decks, pinging out a jamboree of sounds; he sprung fragments of songs from Murder She Wrote to Say My Name from his laptop like the maddest of professors and he did it while singing over the backdrops he created.

His own hits were faster, harder and had tougher basslines: One More Time, 7 Days and Walking Away have never had quite so much oomph.

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Unlikely covers underlined the gloriously bonkers nature of a breathless, non-stop 90 minutes and when David sang TLC’s No Scrubs and Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself, the response was delirious. Better still, David worked his magic with puppy-like enthusiasm, even when he repeatedly reminded us that he’s been at pop’s coalface since 1999’s Re-rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta). The shy Southampton boy who spent his teenage years making mixtapesin his bedroom is now doing much the same thing for thousands of strangers and, as sweet as he is street, he’s doing it wonderfully well.

Who says there are no longer any pop fairy tales?

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