The Clue’s in the Name: Joy Crookes at O2 Academy is a Masterclass in Soulful Joy.
Image Credit: Hannah Patel
Purple spotlights illuminated the stage as the crowd awaited the return of Joy Crookes in concert for the first time in Leeds since 2021. I had situated myself on the right of the stage, with her signature red Joy logo on the stage in front of us. This was the third show on Crookes’ Juniper tour – titled the same name as her second album – which was released in September. O2 Academy was almost full, and there was a buzz of anticipation throughout the crowd.
The lights’ hue changed to orange, and five musicians entered the stage. Wine glasses in hand, they assumed their positions at their respective instruments and the initial piano keys of ‘Brave’ began. For the opening track of the album, and a track that is notable for its mellow instrumental with a focus on Joy’s lyrics, she is unable to be seen for the first verse. A playback sounds through the room, and the crowd eagerly awaits their first glimpse of the London-born singer. With a sharp halt to the music, a gunshot-esque reverberation, and the lyrics ‘Love’s tryna be my friend’, Joy appears from an emergency exit door on the left hand side of the stage. The crowd erupts at her entrance. She looks effortlessly chic in light-wash jeans and a flowing orange, white and black top, colours reminiscent of the artwork from her album cover.
As she flawlessly belts out the velvety chorus of ‘Brave’, the audience are captivated by her voice. She sounds even better, than the studio recording. As the song ends, the band go straight into ‘Pass the Salt’, the first single released for the album. The crowd loves it, singing along to the words with ease, swaying and grooving to the beat; a slightly more upbeat shift from ‘Brave’. Instead of Vince Staples’ feature, the band riff and she vocalises, while the crowd get more into a collective groove.
Following this song, she takes a pause from singing to introduce herself and thank us all for being there. She cheered in response. ‘I love Leeds, I always love playing in Leeds’, she tells us, as her band shifts instruments in anticipation of the next song. She explains that she often finds herself waffling aimlessly if she talks too much during her shows, so she assumes her position next to her mic stand and the opening piano notes of ‘Carmen’ starts. She plays a few songs from the album next, including the most popular track ‘Somebody to You’, which is met with an eruption and a melodic belt from the crowd. Considering the album grapples with themes of anxiety and loneliness, the atmosphere is joyous and exciting. She seems genuinely happy to be standing in front of us, jamming to the music and smiling as she sings.
As she closes out the song ‘Mathematic’, which sees another vocal improv solo instead of Kano’s feature verse, the lights shift from kaleidoscopic rainbow to a soft red. She then addresses the audience again before she starts her song ‘Forever’. ‘I vowed to myself I would dedicate this song to Palestine until it is free. Free Palestine’, she explains, and the crowd cheers in support. This captivates the audience’s attention as she gives the song a new meaning, an emotionally charged masterclass in vocal control.
When Joy finally plays one of her most famous tracks from her entire discography, ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’, she has already successfully nurtured an environment of electric joy. The room goes crazy, ‘I Love this one’, I hear someone behind me say. There is no doubt about Joy’s star quality, seeing as she commands the room with her voice and a more stripped back instrumental accompaniment than her studio recordings.
Without a word, the band leave the stage, Joy following behind, and the lights fade. This can’t be the end; we all collectively think. And we were right, she returns with a guitar in hand, and a single white spotlight illuminates her from behind. She explains that the next song was not meant to be on the setlist, but she was inspired when in Dublin, the first show on the tour, to sing a song in homage to Sinead O’Connor. The audience stood in silence as she justified the next song being a response to the anti-immigrant stance that is becoming rife in Britain. ‘It’s fucking disgusting’, she says, as the crowd goes crazy in support. The opening chords of ‘Black Boys on Mopeds’ by O’Connor starts, and the crowd stands quietly taking in the lyrics, possibly because the song felt a bit before the time of the average Joy Crookes fan, but it was stunning, nonetheless.
The band returns, and the final few songs reignite the energy, especially when a fan-favourite, ‘Two Nights’, one of the first songs she ever released, played two tracks before the end of the show. She closed off with ‘When you were mine’, which left the crowd extremely energy-fuelled and wanting more! ‘Thank you so much for coming – get home safe’ she says into her microphone as she and her band exit the stage.
The setlist was extremely fulfilling, playing almost all of the tracks from the new album, as well as many of the fan-favourites and most-popular tracks. Joy Crookes is a superstar, captivating the audience’s attention and giving us a night of incredible music. Her tour continues across the UK over the coming weeks – I could not recommend attending more.
Words by Hannah Patel.