Janelle Monáe
SSE Arena, Wembley
Back in 2011, thousands of people went to Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire to see Kanye West at The Big Chill. When he launched into one of his rants, the big draw turned into a big bore.
But the journey wasn’t wasted because at teatime, in the rain, a star was born: Janelle Monáe, a hip-hop singer from Kansas City who dressed like Charlie Chaplin and performed like Prince.
You wouldn’t have guessed then that it would take her eight years to reach a British arena. Monáe has so much talent – for acting as well as singing, rapping and dancing – that she doesn’t quite know what to do with it.
Janelle Monáe rocks the crowd at Wembley Arena. She left everyone satisfied with her brilliant blend of hip-hop, singing and rapping, and even her own mosh pits
To see her live, though, is to love her. At the start, Wembley Arena is only half-full; by the end there’s so much noise it feels like Wembley Stadium.
After a theatrical pause, Monáe marches on stage like a toy soldier from another planet. She has four dancers and five musicians, nearly all female. They bring anthems as well as raps, speeches as well as quips.
Like Beyoncé, Monáe radiates charisma, but she’s more spontaneous. You wouldn’t catch Beyoncé bobbing about in her own moshpit. The music is un-even, but there are big numbers in strategic places – Dirty Computer and Crazy, Classic, Life to get the party started, I Got The Juice and Tightrope to bring it to a delirious close.
Like Stormzy, Monáe takes on the mantle of representing her community, and does it in a way that’s not only worthy but witty and warm, so everybody feels included.
By the encore, the fans are joining in a call-and-response as if she were Freddie Mercury. Her scarlet kepi has given way to a fez, then a beret, and finally a policeman’s cap. Hats off.
The Analogues
Abbey Road Studios, London
Rating: 
How many middle-aged Dutchmen does it take to recreate The Beatles? Anything from four to 13, plus one Irishman.
The Analogues have one mission: to do something The Beatles themselves never did and play their later albums live.
The Analogues have one mission: to do something The Beatles themselves never did and play their later albums live. They use vintage instruments, which travel in a vast refrigerated truck
They use vintage instruments, which travel in a vast refrigerated truck. Bolstered by live strings and horns, The Analogues are closer to the Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment than to the Bootleg Beatles.
After playing the ‘White Album’ at the Palladium in May, they returned to London to record Abbey Road, as its 50th anniversary approaches, at Abbey Road.
They did three shows in a day, like The Beatles in Hamburg, but with, I suspect, far greater finesse. From Come Together through to Her Majesty, they kept on showing you hidden depths in songs you thought you knew inside out.
THIS WEEK’S CD RELEASES
By Adam Woods
The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus Out now
Rating: 
A fresh release of the Stones’ Christmas 1968 live album, also featuring The Who, Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithfull and The Dirty Mac, a one-time supergroup featuring Keef, John Lennon and Eric Clapton
Jade Jackson Wilderness Out now
Rating: 
Californian Jade Jackson has a colourful story for her second album; a nasty fall from a rope swing when she was younger, a painkiller problem and a period of depression. Too slow at times, but she’s one to watch
Thom Yorke Anima Out now
Rating:
The difference between a Radiohead album and a Thom Yorke solo album is hard to pinpoint these days. Anima is easy to lampoon for its pessimism, but also absorbing in its claustrophobic yet inventive detail
Lighthouse Family Blue Sky In Your Head Out now
Rating: 
In the faraway late Nineties, the Newcastle band couldn’t be shifted from the charts. Their first album in 18 years pretends no time has passed, and Paul Tucker’s positivity anthems linger a little too mildly on the edge of soul