CELTIC CONNECTIONS 2025 PRESENTS… LADY BLACKBIRD
Lady Blackbird provides Glasgow’s Celtic Connections with a performance filled with mind, body, and soul, offering gracious nods to the past, present, and future.
★★★★☆ (4/5)
LADY BLACKBIRD PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S PAVILION THEATRE AS PART OF ‘CELTIC CONNECTIONS 2025’
PHOTOCREDIT: CALUM BUCHAN
It was a jam-packed night in Glasgow’s historic and beautiful Pavilion Theatre. The venue, which first opened in 1904, boasts original features as well as wonderfully restored and ornate décor. It’s the perfect place to create an intimate and cherished memory of a gig where the environment truly enhances the experience. It is also the perfect venue to match the most modern old soul that is Lady Blackbird, allowing her to transform the space into her nest of unique yet somehow familiar creativity.
Lady Blackbird is an American jazz and soul singer known for her deep, rich voice and a style reminiscent of classic jazz greats like Nina Simone and Billie Holiday. Her music blends jazz, blues, and soul with a modern edge, earning her comparisons to legends while maintaining a distinctive identity. Before adopting the Lady Blackbird persona, she worked in different genres, including gospel and rock. She gained widespread recognition with her 2020 single Blackbird, a cover of Nina Simone’s song (not The Beatles’ Blackbird). In 2021, she released her debut album, Black Acid Soul, which received critical acclaim for its raw emotion and stunning vocal performances.
With her debut album featuring a number of covers, Lady Blackbird’s 2024 release, Slang Spirituals, feels like the album where she truly tells her own story. For her night at the Pavilion, the album’s glory is on display as it is played in full with unrelenting pace and power. The moody and smoky appeal of the opening track, When the Game is Played on You, sets the tone for the night, spilling over into the next track, the wonderful Blackbird. The soulful ballad No One Can Love Me (Like You Do) hits the ears like an instant classic, its sound filling the theatre with a warming glow.
Lady Blackbird, whose real name is Marley Munroe, carries herself with real authority. She keeps things light and open with her radiant smile and charming wit. She takes the stage wearing antlers, a sheer cap, and a corset—and she absolutely rocks it. Her interactions with the audience are relaxed and unrehearsed, as if inviting them into a studio session and letting them in on an inside joke.
As the set progresses, filled with emotion, vulnerability, and power, the audience feels every lyric. Her cover of Jerry Herman’s I Am What I Am—as featured in the Virgin Atlantic advert—is a thundering summary of her incredible brilliance. She concludes the show with her gospel-inspired, uplifting track Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled), and the audience is on its feet, trying to show their gratitude to the performer.
Lady Blackbird fills a gap in modern music—bringing back the raw emotion and storytelling of classic jazz and soul while making it feel fresh.
REVIEW BY: KATRIN LAMONT
