Jain’s British superfan treasures a rare London appearance
September 29, 2024
Like grandfather, like granddaughter, Colin Randall writes.
Maya cannot have been more than seven or eight when I introduced her to a remarkable singer-songwriter who was born Jeanne Louise Galice but chose Jain, from the Indian religion, as her professional name. French, with some Madagascar blood, she grew up in Dubai, Congo-Brazzaville and Abu Dhabi because of her father's job in oil.
Maya adores her and knows most of her songs word for word. For her 16th birthday, her equally French mamie, Mme Randall, discovered a London date and instantly booked it.
Jain is an exceptional artist. Gigs in the UK are a rarity but she deserves much greater recognition than she receives in the Anglo-Saxon world. She seems also to be a likeable person and was certainly a dream to interview. I am sorry nothing came of all my efforts to get a message to her, begging for a quick mention of the birthday of Maya - probably her biggest UK fan - at the event my granddaughter now describes ...
Off I went to Camden Town to see Jain at the Koko. Lots of people love this corner of London but I wasn't previously a huge fan. Only the chance to see my favourite French singer took me there.
The visit changed my mind. The venue is gorgeous, with such impressive space and lighting. Even the toilets are worth a mention because of their cleanliness, certainly an improvement on my experiences at other concerts venues.
Jain started with one of her better known songs, Heads Up, which got a lot of the audience singing along and clapping to the beat as excitement grew. Next came Flash. It’s not a song I knew that well; after seeing her perform it, I now like it a lot. Then she sang Cosmic Love, my favourite song from the album The Fool.
Jain by Paris Match Belgique
A lot of people obviously knew the song, too, and were dancing and singing away. I just felt so happy to have this chance to see her live. And I loved the way she made us all wave our hands in the air.
Then came the best part of the concert for me. Dynabeat is my absolute favourite or all Jain’s songs. Hearing the introduction was for me like a dream coming true.
She managed to get the crowd jumping up and down with their hands in the air to the point where the whole place seemed full of energy, all of us dancing along with her. The audience reaction was matched by Jain's own energy and the fun she seemed to be having. too. She also had a really cool instrument, used for Dynabeat, enabling her to record her voice and replay it for the parts of the song that included harmonies with two voices at once. It was awesome.
She then sang Alright which was one of her songs from her album Souldier. Next Jain did the title song from her newest album, The Fool. Another, Night Heights, is probably the only song I hadn’t heard before properly. Hearing it, and Take a Chance, quickly got me used to the rhythm.
Another of Jain's better known songs, Come, had me jumping, dancing and singing along. What I loved and seemed cool part of this was how she was able to record our voices, coming down to the front and creating a voiceover from audience sound. It was fun and got a good laugh out of all of us - and also her.
Next came Oh Man, one of my favourite songs from Souldier which she followed with songs from The Fool, all amazing to listen to. One from Souldier, Inspecta, made me laugh because I was telling my mum - who I dragged along with me - how much I wanted her to perform it. But the song that got most excited was Makeba, Jain making us all do the ouuiee sound for the intro.
She then sang Goodbye, and as she left the stage everyone started chanting in both French and English for “one more song!!”. No one wanted the night to end.
After a while, she came back and sang Maria, nice, relaxing and moving. Even Jain seemed to get a little emotional.
Overall, the concert was by far one of the best I’ve been to. The venue was great, Jain’s musicians were amazing, the lighting and strobe effects for each song were epic and the opening act (Maya Dellilah) was really good, too. I miss seeing Jain already and will look back every day at the videos I took.
* The editor adds:
Happy birthday sweet sixteen
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