Review: Imelda May - Picture House, Edinburgh

ATTENDANCE at an Imelda May gig should be compulsory for almost any aspiring musician (perhaps leaving aside the classical specialists), as an object lesson in how to put on a show.

On the last night of a UK tour, the Irish neo-rockabilly bombshell and her four-man band put in a full two-hour set, complete with three-song encore. Once warmed up on full-throttle but faintly mechanical-sounding first numbers, she fully hit her stride with a magnificent rendition of the Howlin’ Wolf classic Spoonful, after which the quality of her performance never wavered, across an exhilarating diversity of material.

For as well as prime examples of the vintage rock’n’roll, blues, soul and pop in which May’s fabulously squally yet sensuous singing is rooted – also including the Perry Como/Everly Brothers hit Temptation, Tainted Love, Johnny Burnette’s Tear it Up and a deftly dovetailed medley of Elvis’s My Baby Left Me and That’s All Right, Mama – she featured an equal proportion of excellent original material. Among her own compositions, the stealthily but irresistibly seductive illicit-love song Knock 123, the carefree, country-ish Gypsy, the shamelessly raunchy Big Bad Handsome Man and the bittersweet ardour of Kentish Town Waltz were particular standouts, while her lead guitarist (and husband) was credited with the voluptuously dramatic Ghost of Love and the big, bouncy licks of Eternity.

Whatever the mood or pace, May displayed her outstanding ability to both inhabit and communicate a song, while patently revelling in doing so.

RATING: *****