James Blake / FKA Twigs @ O2 ABC, 18 September

“Whatever they say about tiny venues, this is the best I’ve felt playing here,” comments James Blake towards the end of this show – the first of a larger-venue tour, following the breakthrough success of this year’s Overgrown LP. The Londoner’s visionary ambition has always presented such tensions: how to reconcile his talents as both a remarkable soul singer and cutting-edge dance producer? Can his impressive synthesis of those elements work live, particularly as the venues grow?

Tonight’s opener FKA Twigs also presents a variant of 21st-century soul. Backed by understated guitars, electronic percussion and heavy synth chords, Tahlia Barnett’s songs manage to blend the taut, minimalist menace of Massive Attack circa Mezzanine with contemporary bass influences.

She’s assisted in doing so by maintaining a narrow, coherent focus, an approach that James Blake still resists. His set ranges across diverse territory, taking in a solo piano-led cover of Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You and building towards a dancefloor-pleasing, techno-inflected peak; while his talents are indisputable, the meshing of such disparate influences can feel awkward live.

That blend feels perfected, however, on the two pinnacles of Blake’s career to date: his sub-bass soul version of Feist’s Limit to Your Love; and Overgrown’s lead single, Retrograde, a song which makes fully apparent the haunting, mournful power of his vocals. At such moments, Blake's ability to bring the genre-spanning achievements of his recorded output to the large-scale live context is clear; at other points, he’s still learning to rein in his restive instincts. [Sam Wiseman]