I saw Lauryn Hill prove why she's bucket list act for all ages at Co-op Live - with some help from The Fugees

The powerhouse vocalist was in town for the long-awaited anniversary tour in celebration of her seminal album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, co-headlined by her other musical outfit, the Fugees. And there was a good reason for the crowd’s uncertainty. 

Just a couple of months ago, Ms Hill cancelled the US leg of the tour completely, lashing out at media outlets for their coverage of a previous cancellation and blaming them for low ticket sales. She was then sued by her Fugees bandmate Pras Michel for breach of contract. 

But none of these issues were apparent by the time she walked on stage, around 9:30pm, dressed in a floor-length, white flowing coat adorned with sparkling black detail. In keeping with the Afrocentrism at the heart of all her music, her arrival was accompanied by a slideshow celebrating Afro-Caribbean culture, including images of everything from Black Lives Matter protests to ice skater Surya Bonaly’s legendary one-legged backflip at the 1998 Winter Olympics. (Although one half of the screen flickered and glitched – a small reminder of the venue’s troubled opening season).

As befitting an artist of her standing, Ms Hill had a first-class band behind her with a percussion section that seemed to span the whole stage. All the band members were sat underneath giant red, gold and green parasols – a striking element of otherwise simple stage design that also included a small platform that extended into the audience front and centre, where Ms Hill spent most of the concert.

There was a marked difference between the first and second halves of the set. The first half was all about Ms. Hill, opening with Everything is Everything, When it Hurts So Bad, Final Hour and Lost Ones. Her timeless voice sang every note of every run with the force and clarity that she is known for.

The second half began with To Zion, a song about motherhood dedicated to her son, Zion Marley, who also joined her on stage and sang from his grandfather’s back catalogue, including No Woman No Cry. And then it was time for the Fugees. Wyclef Jean, a legend in his own right, came to the stage with his guitar, immediately matching the energy Ms Hill had displayed all evening.  With the band’s most successful album The Score also nearing its 30th anniversary, there was not a single person in the audience who did not join in with Ready or Not, Fugee-La and Killing Me Softly. In the latter, Ms Hill riffed over the audience’s “whoahs” like poor backing vocals to one of the most gifted performers of our time. 

Ms Hill and Wyclef left the stage to YG Marley’s hit 2023 single “Praise Jah in the Moonlight,” which ignited the younger members of the audience. It’s a song that I’ve heard many times coming out of phone speakers of teenagers on the tram – and while this may have been a high point for them, YG is definitely not the only reason they turned up. 

The fact that there were so many young people in the audience – many of whom were there with parents, families – is testament to Lauryn Hill’s timelessness. Despite, or maybe even because of, her fiery reputation – videos posted on social media after the gig show her laying into the monitor engineer at one point – she has become a bucket list artist for people of all ages. Everyone in the audience that night knew they were in the presence of greatness, someone who had redefined the hip-hop genre for generations of women to come. Gig-going is very expensive these days, especially at arenas like the Co-op Live, but as one audience member overheard after the show put it: “£200 a ticket, 100% satisfaction.”