Northern Vibes

Twenty-five years after Not That Kind announced the arrival of one of pop’s most distinctive voices, the American singer was back in Manchester on a tour that proved there was still plenty of fire in that famously raspy powerhouse. And if the show is a nostalgia trip, it certainly was not a quiet one.

From the opening moments, Anastacia had the Apollo in the palm of her hand. The performance felt familiar, but it was clear that she was fully engaged. “One Day in Your Life” gets things moving before Paid My Dues and Sick and Tired was a reminder of just how formidable her early-2000s run was.

Introducing her band as the A Team, they provided a solid backdrop throughout the evening; when Anastacia departed the stage for a costume change, they rocked through the free classic, Alright Now besides showing versatility on Aqua’s Barbie Girl.

The voice remained the star of the show. Gravelly, soulful and capable of going from intimate to roof-raising in the space of a few bars, Anastacia sang with the sort of conviction that cannot be manufactured. There are technically more polished voices around, but few possess quite this much character. She confidently informed the Manchester audience that what they heard tonight was always going to be just as powerful as the recordings – and she wasn’t wrong.

Her between-song banter was warm, cheeky and refreshingly unfiltered, while the relationship between singer, musicians and audience gave the evening a feeling of a celebration rather than a carefully rehearsed greatest-hits package. Her attempt at trying to mimic a Manchester accent might have sounded like a London one, but full marks for trying.

The gig refused to remain trapped in one musical lane. A string of dancefloor-ready medleys injected some serious party energy, while the acoustic section stripped things back before the guitars returned for a rockier stretch. A fiery Sweet Child o’ Minegave Anastacia the opportunity to unleash her inner rock chick, while Boxer provided another reminder that her voice was never designed to sit politely inside the confines of conventional pop. It was a slick and well-rehearsed show – and so it should be. The tour has been running for over a year now in one format or another.

Left Outside Alone remained an absolute monster live, delivered with the kind of vocal muscle that made it such an unmistakable Anastacia track in the first place. Then comes Not That Kind, before the inevitable closing explosion of I’m Outta Love.

Twenty-five years on, she remained very much outta nowhere – and very much still in the business of blowing the roof off the Manchester Apollo.