Lisa Fischer

Norwich Theatre Royal

American soul legend Lisa Fischer graced the Theatre Royal stage with only her second ever solo UK performance.

The New York-born singer is perhaps best known for touring with the Rolling Stones since 1989, where she shares powerful vocals with Mick Jagger and delivers an incredible performance of Gimme Shelter, which has earned her an army of fans on YouTube alone.

Lisa also joined Tina Turner on her 50th anniversary tour and was the prodigy of Luther Vandross. But she is far more than a session musician. Lisa's solo career peaked in the early 90s when she released How Can I Ease the Pain from her album So Intense, for which she was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1992 and which she performed at the Theatre Royal.

So could Lisa's delivery live up to the legend? She is certainly a faultless vocal powerhouse, belting out a rich powerful sound that makes her one of the best soul singers in the world.

As an artist who is largely known as a session singer, Lisa put her own stamp on rock classics by performing them in a stripped down, meditative style. I've never heard tracks including Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll, The Rolling Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash and Gimme Shelter as well as Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love played at such deliberately slow tempo.

Any rock fans expecting blazing guitars might have been a little disappointed but the Theatre Royal audience certainly warmed to Lisa's laid back style, rewarding her with a rousing standing ovation. This was reinforced by her genuine efforts to involve the crowd - dancing with the front row and surprising the Pop Chorus from Suffolk by asking them to join her for the encore.

Support came from another North American artist – David Ward – who was clad in purple as a nod to Prince and dished up soulful guitar licks with a three-piece strings section called Engines Orchestra Three.

Oliver Franzen