Nerina Pallot with John D’arcy @ Auntie Annies – 03/05/2010

May 22, 2010 No Comments

The very moment Music Matters Magazine arrived at Auntie Annie’s, brimming with excitement at the prospect of seeing Nerina Pallot live in Belfast for the first time in three years, we were greeted by John D’arcy’s unexpected grinning face.

“What are you doing here!?” we exclaimed. “I don’t know,” replied the charming Lisburn based singer/songwriter, “I only found out I was playing a few hours ago!”

As pleasant a surprise as this was, not even the sharpest journalistic instinct could have predicted how utterly brilliant a D’arcy and Pallot live combination would turn out to be…

On stage, unplugged and stripped of production gloss, both performers carried a raw and emotionally affecting presence that no record could do justice.

D’arcy opened his set with two of his most well known tracks: ‘Teenage Meltdown” and “More Like Me” – both of which were executed with stunning precision. Their inventive fusion of punkish zest and soothing folk created a ripple of appreciative murmurs and nods across the audience.

Having wooed the crowd in the space of about three chords, his performance began to build more confidence and momentum as he threw in touches of blues and plenty of subtle melodic finger picking.

In essence, D’arcy drew an unimaginable line between 1950s folk and 1970s punk – fusing a youthful and energetic vocal performance with guitar parts full of maturity and depth. Perhaps the fact that he had the look of Buddy Holly and closed with a song called ‘Poptart’ says it all – charm and anarchy.

Then, after a thirty-minute wait, Nerina Pallot casually placed herself behind her keyboard and began one of the most mesmerising, beautiful performances Belfast may have ever witnessed.

It wasn’t just her flowing harmonies, her pitch-perfect soaring vocals or her seamless transition between soothing ‘piano’ and catchy acoustic guitar. It was the awestruck faces across the front row of the audience, transfixed on her every expression, sound and movement.

Pallot’s set opened with “It Starts”, perhaps the most fitting song from her new album, ‘The Graduate’, capturing a sense of longing and relief which fans in Belfast where no doubt feeling, having had to wait for so long to enjoy her second visit to our province.

Luckily the wait has payed off as Pallot’s new songs add a welcome dose of upbeat, classy pop to the soul-searching depth associated with her previous record, ‘Fires.’

She introduced a lot more guitar playing to the set than before and surprisingly, for a musician who considers herself a pianist at heart, it was the plucking and strumming that proved the most thrilling experience during the gig.

‘Everything’s Illuminated!’, ‘Human’ and ‘Heart Attack’ were the songs that transformed and lifted the mood the most during the night (all guitar based) and it was during this half-way-point in the set, I found myself completely absorbed, almost hypnotised by what I was hearing.

But whether she was on keys or strings, Pallot left both fans and newcomers completely stunned and exhilarated. The disbelieving tone of a girl behind me who uttered under her breath, “She’s sooo good!” or the almost instantaneous clear-out of the post-gig merchandise stall were understated testaments to just how engaging and emotionally overpowering Nerina Pallot’s ‘unplugged’ performances are.

And just in case you think you’ve missed out, she’s promised another new album and tour, this time just a year’s wait from now.

- The Editor

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