Ruben Studdard y The Black Academy of Arts and Letters

‘Home’ is one of my favourite songs, and Ruben Studdard’s R&B twist on the song that opened the show was absolutely magical, and as his gospel voice rang out across the auditorium, he held every single member of the crowd in complete silence. After winning American Idol back some years ago, he was one of the lucky ones who rose to fame from the success, and has released many albums and singles with much success since his win.

He played through a great selection of his tracks, both covers and originals, and focused mainly on his 2009 album, Love Is. He was great at encouraging us all in the audience to sing and dance along to his music, and would shout out ‘if you know this one sing along and put your arms in the air’, which was awesome to feel so involved in his performances.

Studdard is an incredibly performer as well as vocalist, and his witty humour and confident stance held the audience captivated from start to finish. He even took requests for songs after he’d finished playing through his set list, which I thought was an awesome and really personal touch.