| Orchestra or Band | Stewart Curtis's K-Groove [support],
Louis Borenius's Coup D'Etat |
| Set List | Lisa Simone (with K-Groove),
K-Groove
INTERVAL
Introduction to Nina Simone (David Freeman),
Nina Simone |
| Performance Notes | This concert was Nina Simone's penultimate London performance and final Royal Albert Hall performance.
The concert was sold-out.
Lisa and her mother Nina had previously performed together at the Hall for a one-off concert on 30 May 1989.
"In 1998, Lisa was pregnant - which didn't make things any easier when she was asked to open for her mother at London's Royal Albert Hall. As the concert approached, Simone called her daughter, saying she was in a bad mood and threatening to cancel the show.
But Lisa stood up to her mother. "She started saying all kinds of mean things," said Lisa, "and I said, 'I'm not gonna deal with this, and if you want to be a part of this family you're gonna have to learn to be nice.' I called my father and told him what had happened, and he said to me, 'She has reached the height of her career, you're trying to get there - you do everything short of embarrassing yourself to get on that stage.'"
When Lisa and her husband got to London, they tried to check into the hotel but found out that her mother had given specific instructions that she be put up in a different hotel, out in the country, and that she didn't want Lisa to be in the theater while she was performing.
That afternoon, De Bruin received a panicked call from Clifton Henderson, saying that Nina didn't want to go onstage because she was fighting with Lisa. De Bruin flew to London from Holland and went to Simone's room. He asked her what was wrong, and she said that Lisa had insulted her, so she wouldn't do the show.
"I went to the bar and had a glass of wine," he said. "I went back to Nina, said, 'Nina, I think the main problem for you is that Lisa and you are in the same concert building at the same time. Am I right?' 'Yes, of course,' she said. 'Okay, then it's easy to solve - you come in the building after Lisa has left the building. Then you can play and still get paid for the concert.'"
De Bruin went to Lisa and told her that after he opening set she should take her name off of her dressing room door so that Nina wouldn't see it, and then come with him to sit in the audience. Nina delivered a strong show and afterward proudly asked De Bruin if he had watched. Then she asked if Lisa had been there, and when he told her that she had been, she said, "Good.""
('What Happened, Miss Simone?: A Biography', Alan Light, 2016, Chapter 9) |