JADAR

★★★★★

Hadise is one of the biggest artists to come out of Turkey. Britons will remember her from Eurovision way back in 2009, when we awarded her performance, ‘Düm Tek Tek’, our 12 points, helping Turkey reach fourth place – and putting her a few points ahead of our own entry, Jade Ewen’s ‘It’s My Time’. Now, at long last, Hadise has performed in the UK for the very first time. Poetic, isn’t it, that Hadise’s first-ever UK concert takes place during Eurovision week? It is also a year since the UK hosted Eurovision, which I was lucky enough to attend as press. Hadise was originally supposed to play here in May 2020 but that pesky pandemic got in the way. Four years have passed since then – and it was more than worth the wait!

Such a big deal was this concert that the Turkish songstress had not one but two opening acts. Vehbz welcomed guests into the space with a carefully curated setlist, which included the popular remix of Busta Rhymes’ ‘I Know What You Want’ and Sherine’s ‘Saabry Aalil’. It was a wonderful set that warmed the audience up.

Vehbz then welcomed Turkish DJ Kaan Deniz to the stage, with the crowd going wild with excitement. His meaty set was made up mostly of Turkish songs, including the most famous Turkish song of all – Tarkan’s ‘Şımarık’ (you White folk will know Holly Valance’s ‘Kiss Kiss’ cover) – but he also played some mainstream English-language songs. He even played Panjabi MC’s ‘Mundian to Bach Ke’, which forced my excited Indian friend Dhani back on to the dance floor.

Vehbz remained onstage for most of Kaan’s set – and at one point, the pair proudly displayed a Turkish flag. This concert was a celebration of Turkish identity and culture, headlined by the Pop Princess of Turkey. Having visited Turkey thrice, and possibly going for a fourth time later this year, I love its secularism – especially as a Muslim whose family come from conservative Islamic countries. Hadise’s audience reflected the diversity of Turkey: women in hijabs stood next to women with very little clothing; there were noticeably queer people in attendance and even a gay couple who danced together. The crowd, though diverse, all had two things in common: a love for Turkey… and a love for Hadise!

Hadise was joined onstage by a band, three backing singers (one man, two women), and six dancers (two men, three women). She bravely wore double denim, her glittery jacket and shorts rivalled only by her sparkly, silver, thigh-high boots, which matched the vest she wore underneath the jacket.

Hadise champions body positivity and female empowerment so it was no surprise that she opted to wear something that showed off her smoking hot body (if you got it, flaunt it!). The skimpy outfit also allowed her to move around freely and show off her impressive dance moves. At various points, she committed murder on the dancefloor with fierce hip movements that would make fellow Middle-Eastern songstress Shakira proud.

Whilst Hadise famously dressed as a belly dancer for Eurovision, that performance aimed to be as Turkish as possible. But Hadise is a very modern artist, her music is fresh and hip, and her outfits always reflect that. Her gorgeous outfits are as much a part of her performance as her singing and dancing.

A few songs into the show, Hadise ditched the jacket, but it would have been nice if she had had a costume change. Yet, her ability to sing and dance passionately for 1.5 hours, without even a costume change break, is impressive – and testament to her stamina.

Hadise’s set began with the diva and her dancers stood on a set of steps as she sang ‘Feryat’ – which is only a year old but already her most-streamed song on Spotify which shows that, as she approaches her 40s, she has no plans to slow down. Whilst some artists ease their audience into their shows, Hadise opted to begin with a big bang.

Things really got going with ‘Mesajımı Almiştir O’, which allowed her to show off her impressive dance skills. She and the men even offered us a little salsa.

Hadise whizzed through her many hits, including her first Turkish hit, ‘Stir Me Up’, and her first Turkish-language song, ‘Deli Oğlan’. This must have been incredibly nostalgic for her lifelong fans.

Arguably the best performance was ‘Presnses’, in which the female dancers filled the stage with outlandishly large feathered fans. Another memorable performance was ‘Aşk Kac Beden Giyer’, which ended with Hadise and the dancers gathering together and going silent before Hadise uttered the opening line of ‘Evlenmeliyiz’, prompting cheers from the crowd.

Hadise was also just as mesmerising without her dancers. She was alone onstage for some of the songs, including my second favourite Hadise song: ‘Yaz Günü’. She cleverly ended the performance with an audience singalong.

Her penultimate solo song was the aforementioned ‘Düm Tek Tek’. When the music began playing, the audience (myself included) screamed. “Let’s go back to 2009,” she said excitedly, surrounded by her sexy female dancers. The equally sexy male dancers joined them at the end of the first chorus and the passion just grew. For the bridge, the dancers gathered around Hadise and waved red cloths as they chanted. It was absolutely exhilarating.

The transitions between songs was amazing. For instance, after ‘Düm Tek Tek’, the dancers moved a little at the beginning of the next song before departing and letting Hadise command the stage alone for one final solo number.

Earlier on in the show, Hadise, who is Belgian-Turkish, had performed her two hits with Turkish-Dutch rapper Murda: ‘Sen Dönene Kadar’ and ‘Imdat’. Whilst there was no encore, the last part of the show felt like an encore of sorts. Hadise brought out Murda to perform their two duets, which made the audience go wild. Two British-Turkish girls had told me that they had seen Murda at that very venue a short while back and he had brought out Hadise as a special guest – so now it was her turn to repay the favour!

Whilst it might seem odd for Hadise to perform the two songs twice, the first set were bigger numbers, in which she was accompanied by her dancers. The second set was more intimate – just Hadise and Murda.

Hadise then let Murda have his own moment. He performed his hit song ‘RARRii’ before thanking the audience and wishing us a good night. I had been expecting Hadise to come back onstage to close her own concert, especially because she did not herself say goodbye, but after such an energetic 1.5 hour performance, she deserved to lie down!

I have attended (and reviewed) countless concerts – more than I care to count – but this was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best concerts that I have ever been to. I do not know a word of Turkish but Turkish music is some of the best music out there, and Hadise is one of my favourite artists. My friend, Dhani, did not know of Hadise until the concert – but now she is a fan for life!