Alicia Keys Proves She Is Still the Girl On Fire at Tampa’s Amalie Arena
Bursting on the music scene in 2001 at the age of 20, Alicia Keys has become one of her generation’s greatest musicians. Keys is classically trained and writes her own music as well as producing. She is back out on the road for her 7th concert tour “Keys to the Summer” and made Tampa’s Amalie Arena the 2nd stop on the tour. Her 360-degree stage in the round is a huge star of the show! More artists should use these stages to give the audience a better view. Alicia opened the show with her Grammy winning song of the year – Fallin’ on a silver glittered Yamaha piano. Dressed in a silver pantsuit that changed colors with the lighting, which by the way was impeccable all through the show.
She played a 31-song setlist and her band is on the stage with her. Moving from one end of the stage to the other, Keys covers tunes from all her albums. A favorite among the crowd was “You Don’t Know My Name” to “Underdog. While making a costume change, Alicia’s band and dancer grooved and jammed the crowd totally keeping everyone entertained. When Alicia returned to the stage, she appeared on end stage with an upright piano, very cool oversized sunglasses and a rhinestone tie. Her shoes of the evening were sneakers. From her hit duet of “My Boo”, the original with Usher and her cover of the Prince written “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore”? An angst-ridden ballad we all can relate to. “Superwoman, “A Woman’s Worth” and “Diary” were on the setlist
“Girl On Fire” kicked off a string of favorites including “Empire State of Mind” that had everyone singing they were from New York whether they were or not! A surprise tribute to the 80’s and the Eurythmics had Alicia and the whole arena dancing to “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)! She saved two more big ones to close the show, “No One” and “If I Ain’t Got You” She wished everyone love and thanks and the thing about Alicia Keys and her essence is you know she means it. If you are a fan, don’t miss this tour, you will hear everything and more. For tour dates check out Alicia Keys.
Opening for Alicia is Libianca Fonji, who was a contestant on The Voice in 2021. She had a hit with her song “People” in 2022.
Photos provided by Alicia Keys tour. Photog: Ramon Rivas