Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver
7.30pm, St. James Church, 197 Piccadilly, W1. £15.
Tube: Piccadilly Circus
After taking a sabbatical from acting last year, erstwhile Hollywood A-lister Minnie Driver released her debut pop album, Everything I've Got in My Pocket (recorded with Jakob Dylan's Wallflowers), to surprisingly respectful reviews.
It wasn't long before she was performing live on stage alongside Razorlight, Jamelia and REM, then hitting the road to support former Crowded House members The Finn Brothers. Now her first solo tour of the UK climaxes in the gorgeous environs of St James's Church.
Driver was signed to Island Records before she was ever a film star, but when she returned to performing, everyone was quick to recall David Hasselhoff 's painful migration from Baywatch to singing (although Driver herself once pointed out that "Hasselhoff has sold more records in Germany than The Beatles did."). Country rock rather than Teutonic power ballads are Driver's style, however. Her voice is pleasingly husky, and her songs sound halfway between Morcheeba and Sheryl Crow.
And how often do you get to see a Tinseltown diva in the flesh - even if she did start in Casualty?
Alistair Duncan 020 7381 0441
