A LIVE EXPERIENCE WITH
COLLARD
Documented by Fatima Sheekhuna
COLLARD TAKES THE CROWD ON A TRIP, ENCAPSULATING THEM WITH HIS VOICE, RICH WITH SOUL AND EMOTION
As the lights dim and his band have taken their place, Collard strolls onto the stage, exuding a calm aura, in a simple off white coloured sweater with a dark liquor in hand - somewhat a signature of his.
Still dim, the room suddenly fills with his vocals, an electrifying strong falsetto that feels like warm caramel being poured into the ears. It drowns out his band, and he breaks into ‘Hell Song’, the opening track to his album. Later in the show, Collard informs the audience that he chose to come straight into the scene with an album so people could just get to know what he’s about from the jump, through a ten-track project as opposed to a multitude of singles.
He follows with the groovy track ‘Greyhound’, that ends on an incredible solo from his guitarist causing an eruption from the crowd. After introducing us to his band, Collard humbly expresses his gratitude at selling out his headline show, particularly since he hasn’t done many before.
THE LIGHTING SHIFTS IN TUNE WITH THE MUSIC ENHANCING THE EXPERIENCE
Collard takes the crowd on a trip, encapsulating them with his voice, rich with soul and emotion, which pulls the audience into a trance-like state, bodies swaying left to right, barely any phones in sight as everyone seems too enchanted to do anything but watch him. The lighting shifts in tune with the music enhancing the experience, between a soft pink and blue that illuminates purple onto the stage, a deep red and even a heavy strobing effect at time’s that at times ends to leave the room pitch black. To some of the audience's dismay, Bakar isn’t present to perform ‘Stone’ with Collard, however, he does present a serenely lovely new verse on it, his first time doing so he tells us - the crowd is here for it.
Although his music presents him a little withdrawn and dark, he seems a charming soul interacting with the crowd between every song and even jokes about hoping his nan isn’t in the crowd after performing the sensual song ode. Before breaking into the heart-wrenching track ‘Merciless’ he opens up to the crowd about being in a much better place now, as opposed to when the song was written - giving a nod to his current girlfriend who is somewhere in the crowd.
Although the star of the show, Collard gives his band “a moment to flex” and at one point even leads the crowd into heavy applause for his backing singers after they do an incredible job on the penultimate track.
He ends the show with ‘Sofa”, a track about a time his friend overdosed on his couch. Despite it being a heavy song, with the studio version slowing down at the end, his band breaks into a groovy rendition instead to end the show, which continues into a piece with which Collard and his backing singers dance off stage too, leaving the energy in the room vibrant and high. With this show, Collard proves that the translation of his music from the studio to live show is nothing short of exhilarating.
