"The queen is here" - Lauryn Hill & The Fugees at Co-op Live reviewed

It looks like her and certainly sounds like her.

It might actually be safe to confirm that, yes Lauryn Hill is in fact right here in the building. And it was not that long ago it appeared that might be no certain thing.

Only in the summer, the North American leg of a reunion tour with former bandmates the Fugees was pulled at the last minute, with Hill blaming ‘clickbait headlines’ for low ticket sales. Pras, one of the three band members, had already declined to take part, announcing he was suing Hill over a previously cancelled tour.

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It was a fairly chaotic and acrimonious build up for the rebirth of a band, which once appeared to rule the world. Fortunately, there’s no such problem with ticket sales in Manchester with the Co-op Live Arena selling out tonight’s show well in advance.

Formed in New Jersey in 1990, the Fugees’ peaked with the seven times platinum selling The Score, spawning such worldwide hits as Ready or Not, Fu-Gee-La and Killing Me Softly. Pioneering a street-fresh blend of reggae, R&B, funk and hip hop, it made them one of the most significant and influential alternative hip hop acts of the Nineties. Other members Wyclef Jean and Pras went on to score huge hits on their own, but it was Hill who really upped the ante.

Her solo masterpiece, the critically-acclaimed The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, combined reggae and soul as if by some divine channelling of of Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley. It would become one of the best-selling albums of all time.

But if the album appeared to be the first step of a long and prolific solo career for this neo soul visionary, things didn’t exactly pan out like that.

Hill soon began showing signs of struggling to cope with the trappings of fame. She dropped out of the public eye, reportedly dedicating herself to her family and to five times a week bible classes. Lawsuits and record company rows followed. The nadir came in 2013 when she was jailed for three months for intentionally failing to file tax returns.

Sporadic attempts have since been made to reunite the Fugees, but it’s not been plain sailing. A 25th anniversary tour collapsed amid the Covid pandemic leading to the seeming irreversible breakdown of Hill’s relationship with Pras, who is been reported to have claimed the likelihood of him working with her again was less than the chance of Osama Bin Laden and George W Bush “having a latte together”.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that Pras isn’t here tonight, but Hill and Jean are. The humble ghetto-girl next door, whose image was etched into the school desk on the cover of that iconic debut solo album, is showing more signs of adapting to the glamour of fame these days.

“The queen is here” announces the support DJ, before Hill is escorted on to the stage under a huge ornamental umbrella wearing a long flowing white gown, her gleaming braided hair decorated in shining beads of red, green and white. Her voice is as fresh as ever.

The show kicks off with the stomping beats of Everything is Everything, revealing she has lost none of her vocal power over the last 25 years. The first half is made up of songs from her solo debut before YG Marley, one of five children she had with Rohan Marley, son of Bob, performs a couple of his own compositions.

Whether it is the 13-piece band not being as tight as it might be or the rig not providing great coverage to our position in the area to the right side of the stage, the sound isn’t perfect. It is muddy at times, but songs as good as When It Hurt So Bad and Doo Wop (That Thing), cut through, and Hill’s note-perfect vocals power and rapping, as sharp as ever, carry the show.

The concert gets a shot in the arm when Wyclef Jean joins the stage for the Fugees segment, making you wonder the impact a full complement of the trio might have had. Jean knows how to work the audience and leads them through the crowd-friendly tunes.

His vocal dovetailing with Hill brings a new energy to proceedings as the moody Ready or Not and singalong Fu-Gee-La reward the faithful. Killing Me Softly is the highlight of the event showing off the full range of Hill’s vocal power.

The night ends with another YG Marley composition as we depart into the bitterly cold Eastlands night. It was an evening to remind us of the brilliance that once caught the ear of the world, but also one to leave with the nagging feeling it was not everything that it might have been.