Live Review: Sampa The Great, Milan Ring, Imbi The Girl

Imbi The Girl is intriguing and genuinely engaging. With a humble demeanour, a beautiful aura and a broad smile, she lit up the room early with her unique soulful voice layered over warm electronic beats. Using music as a tonic has obviously helped Imbi The Girl in her life and tonight she wanted to help us heal as well, talking about a certain pressure in your chest that you sometimes just can't shake before one song. Final track VIP concluded a beautifully constructed set of promising songs from an artist on the rise.

After you've seen Milan Ring once, you won't forget her. With electronic pads in front of her and a Gibson guitar slung over her back, she started the set slowly - her strong, jazz-inspired voice taking the lead - but when she brought the guitar to the front things stepped up. The bluesy guitar, perfectly dancing over the top of the well-produced beats, was a magical mixture of styles.

It's a joy to watch someone with the confidence to experiment in this way. At one point a conga player joined her for a song and a 'drum battle' between his bouncing hands and her precise work on the drum pads, the strength of the music supporting the brash performance. There's a lot to look forward to from Milan Ring.

In 2017, Sampa The Great released a 50-minute mixtape that explored beauty, pain and discovery. She called it Birds And The BEE9. Tonight, we experienced the album in full, with a performance so completely full of joy that every time the crowd cheered it felt like a warm hug.

Sampa Tembo, entering with a Zambian staff, looked every bit the queen that she is. A shimmering silver gown flowed over her as she sang Flowers (which suitably adorned most of the set), encouraging the crowd to join in from the start. Protect Your Queen felt particularly suitable and Rhymes To The East showcased the talents of her five-piece backing band. Sometimes Tembo was flanked by her "sisters": white-clad women, dancing rhythmically beside her but never taking away from Tembo's overwhelming stage presence.

Black Girl Magik was dedicated to her little sister and felt deeply personal. Backing vocalist Syreneyiscreamy showed off her own impressive voice on Casper before we reached the highlight of the evening. Bye River, a perfectly structured song in its own right, was beautifully enhanced by crowd involvement, the words "River, river, river..." humming through the audience. The song flowed back and forth - louder, softer -and elevated Tembo and her band to their brilliant best. When Bye River ended, the crowd exploded in rapturous applause and euphoria. It was a moment where everyone in the room realised just how lucky we were to be watching this artist at her very best.

An unplanned encore of FEMALE finished this memorable set, one that will sit deservedly near the top of this reviewer's best-of list come year's end. Not content to stop there, DJ Ebony Boadu slipped straight into Kendrick Lamar's Alright and the crowd bounced along.