Guinness Cork Jazz Festival review: Macy Gray rolls out the hits on opening night
Macy Gray performing at Cork Opera House for the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Picture: Darragh Kane
The 45th Guinness Cork Jazz Festival kicked off last night with a joyous atmosphere at Macy Gray’s sell-out show at Cork Opera House on Thursday.
Following a deftly mixed hip hop and R‘n’B set by Cork DJ Jus Me, whoops and cheers greeted Gray’s eventual arrival onstage. The gig was publicised as her Guinness Cork Jazz debut, but this of course turned out not to be the case, as she played a secret warm-up gig in the intimate confines of Coughlan’s of Douglas Street the night before, to a thrilled audience.
“We´ve come all the way from California just to hear you scream,” the Ohio-born, LA-based singer and actress told the crowd, who obliged enthusiastically.
The singer’s larger-than-life stage presence won over the audience with a musical mixed bag that started with well-known hits like 'I’ve Committed Murder' and 'Do Something' before moving on to an eclectic mix of covers and songs from her latest album, 2022’s The Reset.
At times, the show felt better suited to a cabaret-style club setting, especially during one interlude where Gray popped offstage for one of her trademark costume changes as one of two percussionists in her backing band, California Jet Club, played along to a bizarre mash-up of disco backing tracks including 'I Will Survive' and 'Ring My Bell'.
Gray’s distinctive husky voice occasionally battled to make its presence felt, not so much during the latter part of the show, where a highlight was the poignant blues ballad 'The Heart' from her 2016 album Stripped.
Covers included a dark, moody version of Boney M’s 'Sunny' and Rod Stewarts 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy'.
Despite The Reset being her 11th studio album, Gray recently opened up to the Irish Examiner about her intervening career having been overshadowed by the astronomical success of her 2001 Grammy-winning hit 'I Try', and the song has lost none of its power. Gray barely had to sing it, so heartfelt was the Cork audience’s rendition when it was finally played near the end of the evening.
Opera House aside, Thursday night came with a palpable expectant buzz on the streets of Cork, with the best of a star-studded festival line-up yet to come for many gig-goers over the long weekend.
UK star Corinne Bailey Rae, returning festival favourites the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Morcheeba are amongst the acts still set to grace the Opera House stage over the weekend.
As in previous years, jazz purists are more likely to find what they’re looking for at venues such as the Triskel and the Everyman, where the line-ups includes British trumpeter Matthew Halsall, and Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas.
Veteran club DJ Gilles Petersen, The Academic and Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré are among the offerings at Cyprus Avenue. Cork City Hall, Live At St Luke’s, and of course the Metropole Hotel - birthplace of the festival - also sport full programmes for the weekend.
There’s the usual array of pop-up street performances and fringe events, with a Jazz Trail boasting gigs in 73 venues, both in the city and in towns including Ballincollig and Kinsale.
