A rapturous greeting from the home crowd. The band were crisp and she looked and sounded better than ever - very confident. ❏ Update May 31, former Animal Nightlife singer Andy Polaris writes: “Sade was superb tonight. As their Soldier of Love world tour comes ever closer to Ireland and the UK, fans can still find Sade tickets for the four dates: Wed 25 in Dublin from €55, May 27 in Manchester from £80, May 29 Birmingham from £44, and May 31 at London’s O2 arena from £80. ❚ “LOOKING EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL - Sade letting her hair down along with the band sounding sublime.” So writes the 80s singer Andy Polaris on Facebook today after spotting this smooth video of Sade and her band performing their 2000 hit, By Your Side, in Milan earlier this month. ♫ View the video of Sade singing By Your Side, (From MrAdamino85’s Milan video at YouTube) Sade seduces Italy: hair down, shimmering ivory gown and just a glimpse of a pink bra. ➢ Order This Far, a vinyl box set with remastered versions of Sade’s six albums, released today on Sony Musicġ982, Sade’s new band Pride need a UK record deal – so let’s go and make friends in ManhattanĢ010, Comeback Shard comfy as ‘Auntie Sade’ ➢ Visit The Guardian to read reviews of the other How it isn’t the kind of modern standard that gets regularly murdered on The X Factor is an enduring mystery, although the 1975’s Auto-Tune-heavy cover is nice enough. And, in By Your Side, it has Sade’s greatest song: its hushed atmosphere not a million miles removed from Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry, its melody so perfectly formed it feels instantly familiar, its lyrics simple but moving. There’s a compelling argument that Lovers Rock is Sade’s masterpiece, a collection of deeply affecting meditations on parenthood, loss and race on which they simultaneously pared down and broadened out their sound: its tracks subtly encompass everything from hip-hop to reggae to singer-songwriter folksiness.

As a career box set is released, in today’s Guardian critic Alexis Petridis ranks their 20 best songs… “No one does small-hours heartbreak quite like Sade”: The singer photographed in 1990 by David Gravesįrom aching soul to minimalist funk, Sade and her band don’t make many records but their quality has never waned.

What key is sade by your side in