Two things you can expect from a John Legend concert: It’s going to be a love affair at the two-hour event, and you’ll be able to witness the singer serving some sexy dance moves.
Last Saturday night (17th March), the 39-year-old crooner performed at Resort World Genting’s Arena of Stars. His one-night only “Darkness and Light” tour pitstop marked his third performance in Malaysia. “It’s good to be back. I love you Malaysia,” Legend told the close to 5000 audience, before adding, “we’re gonna focus on love tonight”.
Clad in a rose-gold tuxedo jacket and a bright smile, Legend and his 11-piece band invited everyone in attendance to celebrate love. With five studio albums under his name, the singer performed over 25 R&B and soul numbers (including two encore songs) for the fans. It was a treat to walk down his musical memory lane.
Opening the night with “I Know Better” and “Penthouse Floor” from his latest album, “Darkness and Light”, Legend also included plenty of older favourites from his previous records. “Ordinary People”, “Save Room”, “Green Light”, “Tonight (Best You Ever Had)”, were among his hit singles.
An exciting part to Legend’s concert is identifying what covers he is performing on stage. Before delving into our personal favourite track on the “Darkness and Light” album, “Surefire”, the 10-time Grammy winner gave an impressive a capella version of Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down”. Another stand-out moment was when Legend surprised us with the theme song to Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”; that was truly magical.
Throughout the concert, the performer made it a point to connect with the crowd on a personal level. “We are more interested in getting ‘likes’ than feeling love,” he said before jumping into his solo rendition of Meghan Trainor’s “Like I’m Gonna Lose You”. As you may already know, the pop song addresses the limited amount of time we spend with our loved ones.
“Sometimes we take our loved ones for granted. If you’re with somebody you love tonight, tell them ‘I love you’. If you’re alone, no worries—just tell me you love me instead,” he joked.
Before the singer gave a funky tribute to Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly”, Legend shared a memorable story about his role as a laptop DJ when his wife Chrissy Teigen was giving birth to their first child Luna. The song was played in the delivery room as his daughter was welcomed into the world.
Sticking to the tradition of every “Darkness and Light” concert, a lucky fan would be invited up on stage to join him for a “Slow Dance”. For this leg of the tour, Malaysian fan Sophie Kamaruddin (who is a Bloomberg TV reporter based in Hong Kong) got to have her special moment with Legend while concert-goers cheered on.
For the final farewell, Legend returned to play two of his biggest songs for his encore. The piano version of his romantic magnum opus “All Of Me” elevated the show. His band rejoined him for the closing number, “Glory”, the Academy Award-winning song from “Selma” he wrote with rapper Common.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgdRFtnA2qC/?taken-by=sophiekamaruddin
Legend’s concert was in short – uplifting, inspiring, and glorious. We left the venue feeling reinvigorated.
Special thanks and much love to our friends from Resort World Genting for having us ;)
