The return of CAM has come after a near five year “rest”, if that’s what you can call writing and producing with the likes of Beyoncé no less. She returns with her new album, ‘All Things Light’, and with about half the set taken up with songs from the full-length, this was no nostalgia set, it was showing which direction she looks to be going. Deep thinking, self-awareness, and definitely a different vibe.

The first few numbers were slow and felt stripped back, with CAM giving the big crowd an insight into the songs’ meanings, drawing them into her new material carefully and with tenderness. But CAM has been around for long enough to know how to balance new and old. After a beautiful lullaby written for her daughter, ‘Meet You By The River’, just with guitar accompaniment, and a song for her sister, ‘Just For You’, which morphed into Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy’, showing just how powerful her voice is, she raised the tempo up in the second half. It was in the football vernacular, a game of two halves, with ‘Kill The Guru’, the crowd started dancing more and kept the momentum up with ‘Look At The Pretty Girls’, followed by debut album songs ‘Hungover On Heartache’ and ‘Mayday’, before launching into a frenzied guitar driven ‘Diane’. Then before we knew it, CAM asked the crowd if it was ‘Burning House’ time. After a retelling of the story behind this multi-platinum record, CAM smashed it out of the court. She has an unbelievable voice and such a down-to-earth way about her and have no doubt that ‘All Things Light’ will become accepted by the older fans and pick up new ones on the way. Impressive.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe