WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

TRACKLIST: Vertigo; Miss Me Too; Into The Walls; 19th Hour; Astronaut; Anything; Pillow In My Arms; Cycles; Tears For Fun; Hiding Alone; Hole In My Pocket; Everlasting; So Fast; Where Did You Go

We 1st saw Griff supporting Dua Lipa at The 02 in May 2022 and almost exactly 2 years later she opened for Taylor Swift (pictured left with Griff right) at Wembley Stadium.

• Read on for reasons including how this collection fully justifies her long-awaited promotion from superstar stadium support act to thrilling headliner

None of Griff’s 8-song Dua Lipa support set appears on Vertigo and, although it feels surprising that she’s not released a full album earlier, Sarah Faith Griffiths has wasted no time in articulating how dizzying and upside down heartache can leave 1 feeling.

We said of that 02 appearance: ‘It’s a fine support set albeit all too brief which serves as a thrilling appetiser for tonight’s main attraction not least because we managed to get so close to the stage at this arena venue a stone’s throw from where we live.’

The best track here is the uplifting and melancholy depression anthem Into The Walls which observes: ‘Today I think I’ll disappear Into The Walls only for a day or two, at most; To see if anybody might call … Yesterday, I felt like dancin’ tomorrow, maybe I’ll cry.’

It’s country and Western-infused songwriting in a low key but completely understandable way that is moving because it is utterly relatable.

Griff has acknowledged that she differs from contemporaries like Swift because in her quest for the universal truth her songs lack the specifics of, for example, The Black Dog pub in south London where Swift and former Brit squeeze Joe Alwyn used to frequent together.

But on Astronaut, with Coldplay’s Chris Martin on keys, Griff’s perhaps never been more vivid about the lack of commitment of a partner who ‘needs space’ and who she urges to explore a future without her that perhaps lacks promise – and life.

Griff supports chart-topper Sabrina Carpenter on her Short’n’Sweet Tour and she’s not had a lack of such opportunities and has opened previously for the aforementioned Coldplay and Ed Sheeran.

Griff, perhaps, has a unique outlook on life with a father who is the son of Jamaican immigrants part of the Windrush generation and a mother who is a first-generation migrant whose family moved to England amid the Vietnam War. 

We write this in Barcelona and Griff tours Australia, New Zealand and the US before Europe including an Ally Pally gig in November and Razzmatazz show from Barcelona in December.

Vertigo enters the UK album chart this week at number 3 below only Eminem and the aforementioned Taylor Swift.

She’s well worth your time live and this collection fully justifies her long-awaited promotion from superstar stadium support act to thrilling headliner in her own right.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Griff Tickets
• Have you seen a Griff show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this preview? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook