Kicking off her headlining set at the Fillmore on Sunday with the new head-turner “Girl They Won’t Believe It,” Joss Stone looked stunning and alive. Her white dress flowed as she barefooted it across three large rugs on the stage, often choosing to skip rather than walk. And while Stone’s energy and stage presence were stellar throughout her lengthy set, her music rarely reached that level in a show that was plagued with too many ballads and an unfortunate number of Stone’s curious set-up monologs.
“Music” was Stone’s moment to shine, and shine she did. It’s a great modern R&B track, even without the assist from Lauryn Hill, who sings with Stone on record. Sadly the rest of the set – littered with new tracks “Headturner” and “Tell Me What We’re Gonna Do Now” and older songs “Right to Be Wrong” – never overcame the songs’ faults.
For one, Stone’s charcoal voice is better than any of the faux-soul songs she lends it to. And with such shoddy material, her voice is never fully realized. Her penchant for the overly emotive ballad – i.e. “Bruised But Not Broken” and its ilk – should go away, as should her lengthy introductions to songs, dedicating them to her women or her men or calling out a certain ex-boyfriend.
