'I'm honoured to be in the West Midlands' renowned gospel singer tells convention centre crowd
It was a full house and very much a church worship vibe for the opening night for the Cece Winans worship event at Bethel Convention Centre in West Bromwich.
The auditorium was full to the rafters for the arrival the eagerly-awaited More Than This world tour of the super popular Grammy Award winning US gospel singer and church leader.
The 17-time Grammy winner wearing a black leather outfit, told the crowd: "I am honoured to be here." The UK leg of the tour kicked off in Belfast last week before arriving at the Kelvin Way venue for two nights.
She opened the sold out first night with Too Late to Lose with the audience was in fine voice for the whole set as she rolled off a running order featuring mainly newer songs such as Never Lost, Holy Forever, More Than This, the uptempo Fire, Believe For It before smoothly slipping in her 1999 staple Alabaster Box. These were interspersed with traditional choruses.
Other songs were the covers Come Jesus Come and the powerful contemporary Christian music chart hit Goodness of God before finishing the set with the upbeat tune That's My King.
It was an absolutely fabulous performance with Cece's distinctive alto vocals delivering the notes and songs with a message like only she can.
It was a fantastic atmosphere and it was good to see a multi-cultural all-age crowd in the house. Many were on their feet or the whole set.
There was a short technical hiccup between the sets which left Cece apologising for her delayed entrance, but all was forgiven the moment the band struck up and the crowd responded with rapturous applause.
Based in Nashville, Cece who very much a star in her own right, is the sister of Bebe Winans and the pair were previously a duo scoring chart hits including Addictive Love and cover 'Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water' before going solo. Other siblings include 90s group The Winans, while R'n'B singer Mario Winans is a nephew.
Cece's mainstream recordings include the duet Count on Me with Whitney Houston for the Waiting to Exhale move soundtrack, while Bebe scored a UK duet chart hit with Eternal 'I Wanna Be the Only One'.
Tickets are still available for Cece's second night in the region. Book seats and parking spaces via show promoters Rainbow Entertainment.
