Reviews: Leona Lewis, Elton John, Justin Bieber, Vince Staples, Black Sabbath, Robert Plant

Leona Lewis @ Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, England, March 10 – “The numbers flowed into another and the use of video to cover costume changes ensured that no-one’s attention wavered. New track ‘Thank You’ was a beautiful ballad, and Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ was just magical.” – Rachel Gorman/Nottingham Post

Elton John @ Germain Arena in Estero, Fla., March 9 – “John then dipped into his massive song catalog with a few lesser-known tunes, such as ‘Have Mercy on the Criminal’ from this 1973 album Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player. He slowed it down with his 1972 song ‘Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.’” – Dave Osborn/Naples Daily News

Justin Bieber @ KeyArena in Seattle, Wash., March 9 – “By the time he closed the show with his massive hit, ‘Sorry,’ it didn’t really matter that some of the lyrics had been muddled or that the vocal effects were overdone. Nothing could topple the positive quality of the evening overall.” – Owen R. Smith/Seattle Times

Vince Staples @ A & R Music Bar in Columbus, Ohio, March 9 – “From poking fun at a couple in the crowd with a few slight, yet harmless, jabs to preluding his performance of ‘Loca’ with dialogue concerning post-International Women’s Day, Staples treated his stop in Columbus personally.” – Zak Kolesar/The Lantern

Black Sabbath @ Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, March 7 – “As the curtain dropped, fires blazed and singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Terence ‘Geezer’ Butler and tour drummer Tommy Clufetos got down to delivering a farewell set drenched in enough classics from its genre-defining early catalogue to bring tears to a headbanger’s bloodshot eyes.” – Stuart Derdeyn/The Province

Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre in St. Augustine, Fla., March 6 – “His setlist was all over the place, with a fair share of Zeppelin songs (a radically rearranged ‘Black Dog,’ a lovely take on ‘The Rain Song,’ an abbreviated ‘Dazed and Confused,’ an Africanized ‘Communication Breakdown’ and a ferocious encore of ‘Rock and Roll’), a few solo hits (‘Rainbow,’ ‘All the King’s Horses,’ ‘Turn it Up’) and a bunch of very old-school American blues (Howling Wolf’s ‘Killing Floor,’ Robert Johnson ‘Fixin’ to Die,’ Willie Dixon’s ‘Spoonful’ and ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’).” – Tom Szaroleta/The Florida Times Union/Jacksonville.com