It has been a few years since she has headlined her own tour so I was excited to get my hands on a ticket to see the amazing Karima Francis. Interestingly Karima’s support at The Electric Circus was from Bella and the Bear, a Scottish duo from Ayr. A lot of people turn up just in time for the main act, myself included on many occasions, and if you were one of them in Edinburgh that night then you missed out on something awesome.
Catchy acoustic folk with the occasional piano thrown in, both producing effective clean vocals. Even some spoken words throughout many tracks from Lauren makes for an interesting sound. Glad to have caught Bella and the Bear perform.
Karima Francis Mesmerizes Her Audience
Karima Francis took to the stage around 9pm. Standing with her awesome curly hair, head bowed to the floor with nothing but her vintage style vox amplifier and her shiny telecaster for company.
It’s likely there would have been a few people in the room of around 20-30 people not knowing what to expect. Wearing a long jacket she dives straight to it. Karima has an amazing way of reducing her audience to utter silence during her performance. Absolutely mesmerizing, Karima’s vocals are rich, full and never lacking. They are perfectly flawless and beautifully controlled as always.
Showcasing her realness and embracing her imperfection, she instantly connects with her audience with her endearing charm which makes you smile. She is always real in her music and as a person, so unassumingly charismatic.
Mainly playing tracks from her new album ‘Black’ as well as some older songs from The Remedy. Her charming character shines throughout, even asking if we were doing OK. She is not only a good soul, but an absolute unnoticed talent. Real traces of Tracy Chapman in her voice producing goosebumps all round in the opening night of her ‘Black’ Tour. She has been a joy each time I have seen her perform. The emotion of her beautifully haunting vocals hitting me unexpectedly each and every time.
Access at The Electric Circus Edinburgh
Getting tickets for this show was easy and stress-free once I had given the venue a quick call as their website didn’t explain anything other than they were a wheelchair friendly venue and to get in touch to make arrangements. I was told to go ahead and book one ticket online and email the venue to arrange a carer’s ticket. This process is common for a lot of venues nowadays, but I feel The Electric Circus could benefit from using the Access Card and having more accessibility information on their website to better inform their disabled customers.
We arrived at the venue to discover steps at the entrance and no one at the door to help. Thankfully I didn’t arrive on my own, so my boyfriend had to go in to find someone to help. A portable ramp was brought out and in I went. If you have ever been to The Electric Circus you will know how small this venue is. I maneuvered my wheelchair around the tight entrance (great driving skills if I do say so myself) where my ticket was checked and my wrist stamped.
We were left to our own devices and it was easy to find a spot to park as the venue wasn’t full, which meant my view wasn’t restricted by other people. Although, I’m not sure how easy this would be at a sold out show at this venue. I’d imagine it would be a tight squeeze and there is no viewing platform for disabled guests. I won’t rush back to this venue unless there was someone I desperately wanted to see, but even that might not be enough to draw me back.
It was a pleasure to see Karima Francis again. Let’s hope this genuinely true talent gets the recognition she deserves.
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