Rosalia Shines with Orchestra at O2 Arena

LIVE: ROSALÍA (O2 Arena, London)

Verdict: One of the gigs of the year

Star rating: 5/5 

As Rosalía Vila Tobella told fans at an emotionally-charged O2 Arena, this wasn’t just any old Tuesday night in London. It was the first British night of the Barcelona-born singer’s Lux tour – and any doubts that she might struggle to replicate the grandeur of her Lux album onstage were dispelled in a whirlwind show that combined opera, flamenco, rave music and breathtaking visuals.

Despite admitting that the ‘one specific place’ she’d always dreamed of playing in the UK was the Royal Albert Hall (‘I constantly told myself I would sing there’), the 33-year-old revelled in the open spaces of The O2, with a 22-piece orchestra in the centre of the hall and a circular main stage providing a platform for her dancers and props that included a white staircase, screens and art installations.

Like most big shows since ’s Blonde Ambition tour in 1990, the night was split into different acts, with a sense of theatre never far from the surface and English translations of Rosalía’s lyrics (she sang in 11 different languages) on a ticker above the stage.

The ballad Porcelana saw choreography that appeared to be a cross between West Side Story and The Nutcracker. Rosalía, in a pink tutu, was the Sugar Plum Fairy.

The ear-splitting techno of Divinize segued into an incongruous snippet from Dido’s Thank You, while Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti (‘my Christ cries diamonds’) surged to a dazzling flamenco finale.

And that was just Act One.

The evening was sometimes chaotic. Some of the between-act video skits broke up momentum, but the pace was otherwise bewildering. A predominantly female crowd, with some fans in white mantillas in homage to the Lux album sleeve, lapped it up, impressed by Rosalía’s emotional range and her efforts to make highbrow art feel like fun. ‘If it gets too hot, let me know,’ she said, knowingly.

With the Catalan singer now in a black corset and feathered headdress, the frenetic Berghain was a falsetto tour de force. There was also an unexpected cover of Franki Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, sung as a Euro-pop ballad. Amid the scattergun changes of tempo, there were quieter moments, too, with the tuneful waltz La Perla a revenge song aimed at an untrustworthy lover.

The latter was preceded by an uproarious cameo from BRIT-winning Londoner Lola Young, who took part in an onstage confessional with Rosalía in which Lola admitted to having an affair (and ‘doing the deed’) with a man she didn’t know was married until he took a phone call from his wife, oblivious to the fact that his mobile was connected to a Bluetooth speaker.

If the two had sung a duet (sadly, they didn’t), it would have raised the roof. Instead, the rising British star gave her own onstage review of the night. ‘This is one of the best shows I’ve seen in my life... ever,’ she said.

Maybe next time, Rosalía will get her wish and play the Royal Albert Hall. But on this evidence, even bigger stages – Glastonbury or Wembley Stadium – beckon.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK... 

NEIL DIAMOND: Wild At Heart (Capitol)

Verdict: Nostalgic songcraft

Star rating: 3/5 

We’ve all sung along to Neil Diamond’s 1969 single Sweet Caroline at big sporting events - even Prince William joined in, at a recent Aston Villa match. But we haven’t heard much from the man himself since he quit touring in 2017 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

He’s played one-off shows and collaborated on a jukebox musical, A Beautiful Noise, based on his life, but there’s been no new music since a low-key 2016 Christmas album.

That’s changing with the arrival of Wild At Heart – nine unreleased songs plus one re-recorded track, and Diamond’s first album of original material since 2014’s Melody Road.

It’s a timely release, too, coming hot on the heels of the 2025 film Song Sung Blue, a musical drama about a husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute act starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.

The songs on the new album date back to 2008, when Neil, then 67, was working with producer Rick Rubin. The pair released two raw, stripped-back albums together, 12 Songs and Home Before Dark, reinvigorating Diamond’s career in the process. Home Before Dark topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, and the singer played the Sunday legends slot at Glastonbury.

We’re now getting the final part of the trilogy, with the unreleased tracks from those sessions ‘fleshed out’ by Diamond, who is backed by a top-drawer band that includes guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench, members of the late Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers.

But it’s the singer’s powerful baritone, in fine fettle in 2008, which steals the show.

The mood is at one with his earlier Rubin albums. Adorned by Tench’s honky-tonk piano and vigorously strummed guitars, the songs range from nostalgic ballads to robust country-pop workouts. At its best, the album harks back to the two-year period between 1969 and 1971 when Diamond released hits like Cracklin’ Rosie and, of course, Sweet Caroline.

‘One side of me is warm and quiet, the other side runs hot and cold,’ he sings on the title track, a bar-room romp about seeking the same, uncompromising traits in his romantic partner – a woman who should ideally be ‘more than a pretty dress and fancy curls’.

His sentimentality sometimes gets the better of him. The ballad Shine On casts him as an elder statesman offering sage advice to his sons, while the jazzy scat singing on The Secret You fails to hit the spot. But he reiterates his ability to nail a classic chord progression on You Can’t Have It All before harking back to his heyday on You Still Look Good To Me.

He closes with a fresh take on Forgotten, a love-on-the-rocks number originally on Home Before Dark, now revisited with a more urgent spirit. ‘You’ve been keeping me in,’ he sings. ‘High on a shelf, all by myself, feeling like I’m doing my time under a sign that reads forgotten.’

We won’t be seeing him on tour, but pop’s solitary man is far from forgotten.

CLASSICAL...BY TULLY POTTER

RENAUD CAPUCON: Johann Sebastian Bach Sonatas & Partitas (DG)

The violinist’s Bible is the set of six works that Bach wrote for the unaccompanied instrument early in his career.

Renaud Capucon, the leading French player, waited until he was almost 50 before setting down his thoughts on this music that has been precious to him throughout his career.

The result is a set that is among the best in the catalogue; Capucon’s Guarneri del Gesu violin rings out beautifully – he uses two bows, a Tourte and a modern Baroque bow.

Capucon is a great admirer of the legendary Adolf Busch and I think I spot the influence of Busch’s 1929 recording on this deeply-felt interpretation of the D minor Partita.

The Chaconne, Bach’s finest span of music, is terrific; Capucon never forgets that the Partitas must dance, and the fugues in the Sonatas go with an inevitable inner force.

Star rating: 5/5

ARCADI VOLODOS: Schubert Piano Sonata in D major; Schumann Kinderszenen (Sony)

This disc puts a new slant on an old joke involving Russian pianist Emil Gilels. After a recital, an American approached him and complimented him on his playing, before adding: ‘I’ve always wondered, Mr Gilels – how do you pronounce it? Is it Schu-bert or Schu-mann?’

Russian-French pianist Arcadi Volodos plays both equally well in this recital from Paris in June 2022 – he insisted that he wanted to be recorded in a live situation.

The concert took place in the Louis Vuitton Foundation and it certainly lived up to the reputation of the luggage and fashion company, with Volodos in truly inspired form.

Schubert’s D major Sonata, associated with the aforementioned Gilels, is spontaneously played and is followed by a delightful account of Schumann’s evocation of childhood.

Each of the 13 Kinderszenen is well characterised and the famous Traumerei (Dreaming) is thoughtfully performed without the pianist making a meal of it. Good recordings.

Star rating: 5/5