Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To get to The Atkinson Theatre’s Studio in Southport you have no choice but to pass paintings by various artists, all in the Victorian mode. They are worthy of taking a lingering pause by, they capture the imagination and make you think; they nurture a blossoming idea of what the ideal should be, they might not be the first paintings you think of but then what is until you behold it for the first time and it takes your breath away.

Kiki Dee walked out to the stage at the Atkinson Studio with her friend and musical collaborator, Carmelo Luggeri beside her and the sense of awe was as intense and giddy as running headlong through mile upon mile of perfumed scented incense candles burning away the smell of the intervening years in which she last performed in the building.

It is perhaps impossible to think of Ms. Dee in many respects as anything other than the young vibrant, flame red-haired woman who played with many a heart in her younger days. That young woman is still here, they innocent fun and enjoyment of performing for an audience in the North-West visibly a huge deal for her. It was certainly a big deal for those that sat in the stalls and mentally made sure that nothing would detract them for making sure that this was a night in which to relish.

With Carmelo Luggeri playing on his guitar and electronic wizardry like one half of a twin muse, the audience were treated to music that was at all times designed to let the heart slow down to the rate of a single heartbeat and allow the auditory senses to be immersed in what can only be described as grandeur.

It might be 38 years since Kiki Dee teamed up with Elton John for the impressive Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, however clocks can stand still, they can tease Time into running backwards when given the chance and in the a voice that could cause ripples to appear on the stillest of lakes, that could be sweepingly majestic and as smooth to the touch as a silk stocking, Kiki Dee delivered a set of two halves that galvanised a long time heroine of the art to a the other half of the twin muses.

With tracks such as Sweeter Rain, Everybody Falls, Salty Water and Soulman making up the first half and Dance To The End, in which one fortunate gentleman in the front row was given the opportunity to dance with Ms. Dee, She’s Smiling Now, Forward Motion and Music In Me culminating the evening, there was no doubting the sense of beauty bursting out on the night.

It was though in a certain couple of songs in which Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri stood out as just being touched by angels on the evening. Taking on Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill is one thing, performing it as if it is the last thing you will ever hear is another and to somehow make the tremendous Don’t Go Breaking My Heart a song of maturity in which fragrant youth has given way to respected wisdom and prime of life serenity is stuff of legends.

For Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri this was a triumph, a gentleness in delivery, but pausing every so often to make sure that people knew that tenderness and reverence at times should go hand in hand. The fragrance of a thousand scented candles could not match the barest allusion to the delicate aroma of a night made wonderfully complete.

Ian D. Hall