By Keya Modessa

Wembley Arena, London 2nd November 2002.

As crowds of people slowly filtered in and buzzed around the Wembley Arena Saturday evening, the front stage stood pitch black and motionless. The empty red seats, which had coloured the venue, were now gradually becoming hidden behind bodies of all different shapes and sizes. The casual banter between friends was quickly becoming a mass of noise, rising up as every other seat was occupied.
Suddenly without any warning, an unexpected explosion of music was fired at the audience. An electrifying display of lights accompanied the opening of Beethoven's Classical Symphony No 5 ringing out loudly and drowning the noise and activity from below.
Silence.
There, in the middle of the stage, appeared a keyboard.

From that pitch black stage emerged a slight glimmer of light, steadily giving life to a burst of warm sunset colours. A shadow appeared, a figure and as the music began to climax so did the cheers from the arena. Every head now fixated on the bright stage, every movement observed with excruciating stares. A move to the right and this curvaceous figure glided through the shadows - a deep breathe and there she was.

The stunningly gorgeous Alicia Keys stepped out to make her debut in London's Wembley Arena. Dressed in a modest, yet sexy fuchsia pink chiffon top, matching hat and hip hugging navy jeans. Ms. Keys was glowing with an excitement to perform -- and the audience was waiting to receive. She cheered, she clapped, she bowed to greet her fans and, in typical Wembley fashion, hands were waving in the air and feet were stamping furiously welcoming her to the UK.

Keys kicked off the concert with an unreleased track from her album "Rock With U" which fused together 80's funky disco beats and smooth percussion sounds. This was immediately followed by "How Come You don't Call Me" - but just as the crowd began to sing along, she threw in a little bit of elaboration.
She stopped.
Teasing the crowds who were roaring now, she walked to the left of the stage and then to the right dragging her mic with her. She slowly turned away from the audience and then spun her head back around and burst into the remix of the same song. The crowds were thriving off her energy and the atmosphere was incredible. But it was her version of "Come on Baby Light My Fire" that quite literally 'set the night on fire'. It was undoubtedly the showstopper, which got the fans moving. Playing her piano for the rendition of this tune her powerful vocals were soaring.

At times Alicia was entertaining her audience in songs such as "Girlfriend," but her talent was on another level when she was using it to 'perform'. During her slow love ballads Keys' sultry voice encapsulated talent at it's finest. Far from the worn and torn vocals of artists still seeking out their own identity in their music, Alicia Keys has definitely put her own stamp on the world of RnB.
There was a streak of pleasure and pure confidence in that girl Saturday night and no one could have guessed that it was her largest performances in the U.K. to date.
"Woman's Worth" suffered the same choked up reaction from me as it did the first time I ever heard it. But as her show drew to a close there was something bugging, something that had made the night almost 'incomplete'.

She thanked her fans and departed the stage almost as gracefully as she had entered. The lights dimmed, the darkness seemed to go on forever and as people began to leave, a voice inside my head persisted me to stay.
Finally I heard it. Those four familiar words exploded from the stage surrounding the entire arena and ignited the crowds. Those four words, which I had waited the whole evening for.
"I keep on fallin."
Save the best for last. Ms Keys played us out with her first single "Fallin" which topped charts all over the world. The seductive tune was the ultimate finale for a truly class act.

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