Television audiences would have missed it, but after sitting in with Jon Batiste and Stay Human on last night's episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Lianne La Havas took the floor to perform "Green & Gold" off her 2015 album Blood.
She didn't make it onto the regular broadcast because Colbert had a jam-packed Late Show last night as he welcomed former Secretary of State and Democratic Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, host of CNN's Parts Unknown Anthony Bourdain and Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein on stage to promote her new book "Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl."
Thanks to the power of the Internet, fans don't have to miss out on what the studio audience got to experience. She had joined the house band for the episode at one point playing a snippet from the lead track off Blood, "Unstoppable," but thankfully she got a chance to step forward and play a full song.
With the backing of Stay Human, her performance of "Green & Gold" brought out the jazz undertones that were always in the recorded version, but were maybe buried under the poppy drumbeats. She also looked fantastic, sporting a gleaming, dark green top and long flowing skirt, which sat nicely behind her bass. If her album didn't win naysayers over this performance should.
This also marks the first time Jon Batiste and Stay Human have brought someone on to sit in with them throughout the episode. Hopefully, this speaks to how Batiste may influence the music talents that make their way onto the show in the future. If that's the case viewers of the show can expect more talented, hip, young artists like La Havas.
Check out her performance of "Green & Gold" below as Colbert cracks some jokes about this being an online exclusive video.
