MELANIE C + TORRIN – CHALK, BRIGHTON 20.2.22
On Sunday 20th Spice Girls legend Melanie C came to Brighton’s Chalk for an intimate out of store performance for local record shop Resident.
She was promoting her latest release self-titled 2020 album ‘Melanie C’. The album is made up of 12 tracks full of carefree dance-along electronic disco anthems, focusing on the themes of self-love and reflection on how Melanie chose to find peace within who she is.
Committed fans faced the full force of storm Eunice as they queued along the seafront dressed in Mel’s signature tracksuit outfit, ready to get the best spot of the icons set.
Kicking off the night at 7pm was Oxfordshire based singer songwriter Torrin, who is most popularly known for winning “The Voice Kids” competition in 2021, where Mel C featured as her coach.
With a 30-minute set made up of covers and originals, Torrin began with an acoustic cover of Blur’s ‘Song 2’, her powerful voice made it impossible to believe she was only 15 years old. Continuing with original song ‘Haven’t Any Real Reason Yet’, Torrin had the sold-out crowd in silence as they all listened in absolute awe. Her set continued with a cover of Radiohead track ‘Creep’ and followed by original track ‘Powerless’, which can be found on her Spotify page.
Torrin ended her set with a cover of Spice Girls track ‘Spice Up Your Life’. It was clear the crowd could hardly hold their excitement for the main act to take to the stage.
Torrin can be found on Facebook.
Taking to the stage at 8pm Melanie C (aka Mel C, ‘Sporty Spice’ and Melanie Jayne Chisholm) came bounding into the room with the electric energy she is so well known for. The crowd erupted with surprise with the first track ‘Who I Am’, being played in all its electronic glory after expecting an acoustic chilled back set.
She followed with the second track from the new album, ‘Blame It On Me’, before explaining how it felt unnatural to play an acoustic set in the nightclub setting, resulting in a never seen before and hot off the press “Hybrid set.” She continued with crowd favourite ‘Never Be The Same Again’ leaving room in her dance routine for the crowd to sing back every lyric alongside her. The pop star explained why Brighton held such a special place in her heart with close friend signwriting partner Richard “Biff” Stannard writing most of her iconic songs in the city. The video for her tune ‘The Sea’ was filmed at the time in Brighton – Watch it HERE.
Mel’s energetic set was broken up by more acoustic versions of songs including ‘Here I Am’ and ‘Northern Star’.
Of course, it is impossible to go to a Melanie C gig without hoping for a Spice Girls track. Luckily for tonight’s crowd, we were treated to two! Starting with ‘2 Become 1’ from 1996 album ‘Spice’. Every member of the crowd knew every word without fail, resulting in a powerful and intimate atmosphere. This was followed by the second Spice Girls track ‘Who Do You Think You Are’.
The set came to a very abrupt end with the track ‘I Turn To You’, which left most of the crowd waiting in the room expecting some kind of encore. Despite being the end of the short run of shows, Melanie promised to be returning to Brighton in the very near future.
Melanie C setlist:
‘Who I Am’ (found on 2020 ‘Melanie C’ album)
‘Blame It On Me’ (found on 2020 ‘Melanie C’ album)
‘Never Be The Same Again’ (found on 1999 ‘Northern Star’ album)
‘Here I Am’ (found on 2020 ‘Melanie C’ album)
‘Goin’ Down’ (found on 1999 ‘Northern Star’ album)
‘Northern Star’ (found on 1999 ‘Northern Star’ album)
‘Into You’ (found on 2020 deluxe version ‘Melanie C’ album)
‘In And Out Of Love’ (found on 2020 ‘Melanie C’ album)
‘Overload (Remix)’ (original found on 2020 ‘Melanie C’ album)
‘Touch Me’ (Rui Da Silva feat. Cassandra cover)
‘2 Become 1’ (Spice Girls song)
‘Who Do You Think You Are’ (Spice Girls song)
‘I Turn To You’ (found on 1999 ‘Northern Star’ album)
Find out more at melaniec.net
