At around 8:30pm on April 9th 2010 at the Irving Plaza in New York, Alicia Lena arrives onstage and is greeted by cheers and applause from the crowd which mostly consists of young female’s from the ages of 16 - 30 and that gives a clear indication of what her audience is going to be later on this year when she tours in support of Tisha Jackson and Miss Vanity on their tours.
“How’s everybody doing tonight, I know it was short notice, But I thank you all for coming.” She’s referring to the announcement she made on her official website which was posted before mid-day. “Like I said on my website there’s a special appearance tonight, I’m not gonna be all alone tonight, so please welcome a good friend of mine and the guitar player for The Walls, Dan Richards.” Que the screams from the younger girls, he’s a handsome young man who has a charm about him which could see him easily spending the night with anyone who’s in the audience tonight.

She begins the performance with the piano intro to Never Felt This Way (Before We Met) which is accompanied by a guitar intro. “This is a song from my debut album, I hope you like it” shouts Alicia, Cue the cheers. The song isn’t the traditional pop song you‘d maybe expect, it’s more of a Blues song which is the kind of music Alicia grew up on. She steps up from the Piano and heads to the front of the stage to join Dan, “This next song is originally by Stephanie Fierce, But I’m gonna try something a bit different with it”.

Dan provides a soaring guitar solo intro to the song and she provides a rock front woman type of vocal which shows off another side to her, and her friendship with Dan comes across onstage as he regularly looks into her eyes, smiles and winks throughout the show, she responds occasionally with a smile. “This song is about not believing in true love, and not wanting to believe that there’s only one person in the world who your meant to be with”.

She stays at the front of the stage away from the piano for this song and it couldn’t be more different from the last, she shows her pop-star quality with unexpected vocal changes and choreographed dancing, she then leans towards the edge of the stage to whisper the final line of the song “Just believe, that‘s all it takes, Just believe, forget mistakes, Believe that love will last forever, Believe we‘re gonna grow old together”. She hugs Dan once she’s finished the song and she’s back at the piano for “My debut single New York Love Affair.” It gets the biggest cheers of the night but before you know it the songs over. She then blasts through the next three songs like a breeze, firstly More Than You’ll Ever Know, which will be the second single from her debut album.

Then she blasts through Rooftops a song which features Ryan Ross Hernandez on guitar on the album version, she then plays “A song which didn’t make the album, Another Face In The Crowd. She then leaves the stage with Dan before returning for two more songs, “This next song is a song by The Walls called Peace, Love, And War” although it’s generally a rock song she gives it a new dimension with her blues and pop style, and it’s met with a smile from Dan. She then finishes the nights performance with Party-Starter a song which features Tisha Jackson on the album version but tonight’s version features Alicia with backing vocals and guitar by Dan. Then finish the song and both thank the audience before sharing an overly long hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Overall the performance went really well without any mistakes and it looks like Alicia could work with Dan more often because they fit so well tonight.

The Setlist
Never Felt This Way (Before We Met)
Kill The Runaways
We Ain’t Gonna Grow Old Together
New York Love Affair
More Than You’ll Ever Know
Rooftops
Another Face In The Crowd
Peace, Love, And War
Party-Starter

(Photo's from the show will be posted soon)