It’s a cold, wet November evening in Camden Town, but I’m happy to ignore the inclement weather as The Forge is hosting the first London show in almost two decades by Sophie B. Hawkins. The singer is in town promoting her ‘Free Myself’ album, released earlier this year after another lengthy gap - in this case, a mere eleven years. Time sure does fly. It’s my first time at The Forge, just a few yards off the main drag, an unassuming entrance opening out into a decent-sized space with a balcony for the VIP experience. I’m running a little late, but I’ve just enough time to grab a beer and a spot by the mixing desk as Sophie’s three-piece band (drums, bass, keys) takes to the stage.

With an exuberant “Hello London”, Sophie hits on stage as if shot from a cannon, bouncing up and down, all loose limbs and big hair launching into ‘Right Beside You’ with its infectious synth intro. The tune seems very fast – I’m guessing the adrenalin is pumping - the stream-of-consciousness midsection rap is delivered with breathless urgency. Thankfully, courtesy of a kind vocal mix that puts Sophie front and centre, we can hear every word. Things settle down as Sophie picks up an acoustic guitar and leads the band through ‘Before I Walk On Fire’ and unexpectedly, so early in the set, one of her best-known songs ‘As I Lay Me Down’ allows a partisan crowd, who’ve obviously waited years for this moment, to join in with some tuneful audience participation before, now at the keyboard, dipping into the new record for the soulful pop of ‘Love Yourself’ which, back in the day, would be a nailed on hit single.

The opening quartet of tunes plays as a timely reminder of Sophie B. Hawkins’ range. Vocally she’s equally at home with a seductive raspy whisper as she is belting out the likes of her signature song, ‘Damn, I wish I was Your Lover’, while musically her range is as equally interesting. From big ballads to soulful pop, Sophie expertly brings her unique personality to a sound that blends NYC's legendary Brill Building, Laurel Canyon, California and all points in-between, with nods to the likes of Carly Simon and Carole King. Sophie continued her set with a terrific, as she put it, breakup song, ‘I’m Better Off Without You’ - the band doing a fine job reproducing the lush instrumentation of the record in a live setting. The strong songs continued with ‘Lose Your Way’, which, Sophie reminded us, resulted in a falling out with her then record company over her insistence on having banjo as a featured instrument. Needless to say, tonight, Sophie played banjo on a song that struck me as reminiscent of The Bangles - which is obviously a good thing.

As a one-off gig, we did experience a couple of false starts, with Sophie joking that her interactions with the audience were confusing her band, while the sound guy did a great job of being in two places at once, doubling as a guitar tech. A cover of the Joan Baez classic ‘Diamonds and Rust’ on guitar was surprising – I was expecting piano (there's a great version on YouTube) Sophie pushed through the intricate phrasing seemingly unfazed, and her voice was superb. These slight missteps are worth mentioning as they remind me why I love live music, and tonight, it felt like we all got to know Sophie, the person behind the songs, a little better. Other highlights included ‘Hungered For Love’ inspired by Sophie’s experiences playing Janis Joplin in the play Room 105, with its amusingly expletive-littered intro story. That theatrical experience was especially noticeable during the emotive balloon release at the end of ‘You Are My Balloon’ before the set concluded with the aforementioned ‘Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover’. Sophie returned for an encore in a heavy coat more suitable for the weather outside (replacing what looked like a Kate Bush T-shirt) to perform Bob Dylan’s ‘I Want You, which once again highlighted just how good her voice is.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the ‘Free Myself’ record, but only being familiar with Sophie’s previous hits, I was highly impressed by this evening and look forward to a deep dive into her back catalogue. If you missed this show, Sophie mentioned plans to return to the UK in the spring with the possibility of shows themed around her ‘Whaler’ record.