Unity - A Concert for Stephen Lawrence, O2 Arena - music review

Unity was both a well-judged tribute and vibrant confirmation that British pop is in the rudest of health
Rita Ora
30 September 2013

On September 13, Stephen Lawrence would have been 39 and perhaps the architect he aspired to be. Instead, 20 years after his murder, his legacy is served by the beneficiary of this near sell-out show, the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which assists disadvantaged youth.

Recorded for a live album due later this week and for a BBC1 programme on Tuesday October 2, Unity was both a well-judged tribute (assuming we forget Beverley Knight’s assertion that it was a “wonderful milestone in British history”) and vibrant confirmation that British pop is in the rudest of health.

The charity-familiar format meant that for over three hours, brief sets were interspersed with films and cameos from cheery footballer Jermain Defoe, Olympic opening ceremony director Danny Boyle, lead-balloon comedian Omid Djalili and Stephen’s mother Doreen (Baroness Lawrence Of Clarendon since earlier this month). She noted pointedly that there has been only “partial justice” for her son’s murder.

An absence of the sanctimonious and an impressively empathetic house band ensured an absence of losers; merely differing levels of victory.

Plan B brought vision and the whiff of soul revue; Rudimental added thrills; and the fast-improving Emeli Sandé oozed an authority that seemed beyond her until recently, especially on her spine-tingling caressing of I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free. Ellie Goulding’s bewildered vulnerability — not least when her microphone failed — remains part of her charm; a Britrap face-off as Tinie Tempah followed Dizzee Rascal ended in a score-draw; Rita Ora was brilliant on Prince’s Diamonds & Pearls; and Ed Sheeran got screamed at.

Nothing, of course, could compensate for Stephen Lawrence’s absence from a venue two miles from the place of his birth, but Unity did his memory proud.

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