Jackie Clarke, Twyford NZ, 2022

Jackie Clarke

21st October 2022
Twyford Community Hall, Twyford, New Zealand.

Review by Rob Harbers, photography by Andrew Caldwell.

Day eight of the Festival saw me making the pilgrimage (all of 10 minutes from home!) to the settlement of Twyford, where in conjunction with the Small Hall Sessions, Jackie Clarke presented her “Jackie Goes Prima Diva” show, and stunned an adoring crowd with her powerful voice.

This was night three of a five night run, and it’s my job over the next few hundred words to convince you that you need to catch one of the remaining ones if you can!

Inspired by a period of reverie, resulting in an epiphany (described by Jackie as “like an orgasm, except cerebral”) during the first period of the isolation that dares not speak its name, this is a collection of the songs that have inspired her over her life. It was when these were all gathered together that she realised that they were (almost) all the work of female artists, which tells a story of itself. Having arrived at this list of material, she then set about putting together a show comprised of it, which brings us up to where we are now.

The first thing that must be said is: what a set of fucking pipes the lady’s got! Having only tangentially encountered her during her career, I had no idea of the power and range of her voice, and was blown away by it, as it seems many others present also were – she’s absolutely fucking amazing!

Taking the audience through a set drawn from many of the great female voices of the last 90 or so years, Jackie held them in the palm of her hand, while also having time for some affectionate banter with various members and crew. Her accompanist on this journey of sound is Stephen Small, who alongside his membership in Hello Sailor, also plays with both the London Symphony and Czech National Orchestras – so no mere novice himself!

Starting with the great Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” and proceeding through songs originally sung by divas such as Ethel Merman, Peggy Lee (twice!), Judy Garland, Alberta Hunter, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Kate Bush, Elizabeth Stokes, and many more, this was a show that pulled out all the stops, Jackie holding nothing back in her renditions of such a distinguished catalogue. This self-styled “Pacifica Rita Hayworth, with a touch of Spotlight” really knows how to entertain (and did I mention she can really sing?), and while reflecting that the hall could equally have been Carnegie or Royal Albert, but was in fact the Twyford Community! But she would do either of those stages proud also.

I’m not going to bore you with a song-by-song rundown of the show, you can see that in the setlist below. Suffice it to say that after the song announced as being the last one (the announcement receiving the correct response, in the form of a collective disappointed “Oh”), the ironically titled, in light of all that’d gone before, “Is That All There Is?”, the encore consisted of the night’s only song not originally sung by a female, in the form of “Bohemian Rhapsody”! Yep, BoRap itself! What chutzpah, to take on such a piece! What talent, to pull it off!!

Simply fucking amazing, leaving the crowd with a warm glow. An absolute triumph for both Small Halls and the Festival, at this near-halfway point an early favourite for the title of “Best In Festival”. Don’t waste any more time, don’t give any more excuses, get a ticket and prepare to be astounded!

Were you there at the Twyford Community Hall for this intimate gig? Or have you seen Jackie Clarke perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Set List:

1. Feeling Good
2. I’m A Woman
3. I Get A Kick Out Of You
4. Cellblock Tango
5. If You Go Away
6. The Boy From
7. Wuthering Heights
8. Expert in A Dying Field
9. I Have Loved Me A Man
10. Don’t Rain on my Parade
11. Diamonds Are Forever
12. Light Of A Clear Blue Morning
13. Handy Man
14. There’s Gotta Be Something Better than This
15. The Man That Got Away
16. Evergreen
17. I’ll Always Remember Us This Way
18. Is That All There Is
19. Bohemian Rhapsody [encore]

_{Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only.}

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