Singer-songwriter Vonda is the first to admit that she owes her wonderful new Los Angeles home to the TV series 'Ally McBeal', on which she is a regular cast member, and from which she has released two best-selling albums.
"If it wasn't for the show, I'd probably be living in a one-bedroom apartment" she says.
So it's not unreasonable to assume that those who support her current far-reaching World tour (which takes in Australia early July) are mostly fans of the show. Vonda actually asked the crowd at this, her only London date: 'Do you watch 'Ally McBeal?' And, just in case anyone happened to have been living in solitary confinement (presumably in nearby Wormwood Scrubs) in recent years, she explained 'It's about 30-something women and their boyfriends…'
Her audience, with its fair share of girls-night-outers, was virtually all 30-something. Very something in many cases. Vonda, 36, looked striking in black leather trousers and a pink sequinned halter top. And there was much flicking of her well-groomed blonde hair. Yet, although her admirable vocal talents were immediately in evidence with her opening number 'Star Of David', it was a while before Vonda made much impression upon the audience. Some even heckled.
Vonda's response was to practically chat them into submission, before bringing out the big guns – 'Read Your Mind', 'Hundred Tears Away', 'Someday We Will Be Together' and the glorious 'Sweet Inspiration' – from her second 'Ally' album 'Heart And Soul' which this tour is named after and obviously designed to promote.
Vonda's own blend of Country and Soul even extended to interesting covers of 'What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted' and Don McLean's 'Vincent'.
The band, including the drummer from Elvis Costello's Attractions who now has his own LA group with Vonda's two guitarists, were on fine form. Flirting furiously with one guitarist, Vonda herself excelled on piano and guitar.
Another, smaller, piano was draped in pink and placed next to a large pink sofa centrestage. It was, she said, a recreation of her living-room 'to make everybody comfy'. It certainly made a few of us wonder what else she's spending her well-earned dollars on.
