From the moment Carole King walked onto the Great Oak Stage at Hyde Park, you knew this was going to be special. The capacity crowd gave the warmest welcome to an artist I have ever experienced, and yes it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. As for the lady herself, she just mouthed ‘Oh My God’ several times, before sitting at the piano to perform one of the most iconic albums of all time ‘Tapestry’ in full.

This iconic album is something that is etched into your soul upon first hearing and does not falter in magnitude over time. The memories upon hearing the songs again made emotions run high and was like reliving them for the first time all over again.

Photo by Dave Hogan

The opening chords of ‘I Hear The Earth Move’ was the excuse for the first of many ‘sing a long a Carole', her voice seems to have passed the test of time, albeit there were occasions where it was a little raspy. During ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ King stopped and commented “I like it when you’re singing.”

Unlike many artists who believe they are Peter Pan, King embraces her age by proclaiming “I’m old but I want you to know I’m OK with it, this is what 74 looks like!”

King was joined by her daughter Louise Goffin for a reworked version of ‘Where You Lead’ which is more based on mother daughter relationship than the original which was “A stand by your man lyric” King explains. This is followed by another duet with her daughter a rousing rendition of ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.’

The final track of Tapestry ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ is another duet, this time with her younger self (a video from the 70’s), this is followed by a deserved ovation.

This was followed by a medley of Goffin/King songs including ‘Take Good Care of My Baby / It Might as Well Rain Until September / Go Away Little Girl / I'm Into Something Good / Hey Girl.’

The first encore included ‘I Feel the Earth Move’ accompanied by the West End cast of the musical ‘Beautiful’ based upon King’s music. The final encore was ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ with the additional lyric "Thank you for welcoming my friends and family. I love you, London Town."

Earlier in the day, singer-songwriter Don Henley had treated festival goers a set featuring both solo and Eagles material including The Boys of Summer, Life in the Fast Lane and Hotel California. Before the finale of Desperado, Henley paid tribute to his former bandmate Glenn Frey, who died in January, aged 67.

"This has been a difficult year in our camp, thank you for all your messages of support and love".

"This one's for Glenn."

It's fair to say that Carole King at British Summertime was one of those 'I was there moments,' I hope there's a DVD in stores come Christmas.

Article: Mick Game