– GORILLA, MANCHESTER –
It is unseasonably warm and Nick Mulvey’s first UK live date since the release of his debut album First Mind is a sold out Gorilla. It’s been only one week since the album release, but having charted at number 10 in the official album chart it has already created a lot of buzz.
Support this evening comes from London-based singer/songwriter Kimberly Anne. Starting her set by loading up a loop pedal with drums and clapping she immediately grabs the attention of the crowd. Oozing confidence, not even the breakdown of the loop pedal before the second track could faze her, “Screw it” she says, “It’s an acoustic gig now”.
Songs ‘Almost On My Feet’, which Kimberly promised herself she wouldn’t change after it was first written, and ‘La La’ are my favourites of the set. During the latter she manages to have the crowd sing backing vocals throughout the entire duration. The end of ‘La La’ is even accompanied by the crowd fading to end, something I’ve never seen attempted before, but it seems to work. The relatively short set closes with latest single ‘Hard As Hello’ and she leaves the stage to a level of applause you rarely see support acts receive.
Having been suitably warmed up, Nick Mulvey’s emergence onto stage is highly anticipated. He arrives with a four-piece band behind him and they get on with playing the haunting introduction to ‘April’. Every pair of eyes, and ears, focus on the stage as the sound washes over the room. Moving straight into next track ‘Juramidam’ it is already clear why all the tickets for this gig were snapped up, there is a lot of talent on show.
The crowd appreciate the next two songs ‘Ailsa Craig’ and ‘Venus’ in relative quiet, but the opening notes of ‘Meet Me There’ cause a huge cheer. Looking delighted, after the song Mulvey expresses his shock that “you know the words”. For the first time in the evening the next track features Mulvey on his own. He introduces ‘I Don’t Want To Go Home’ by telling us that it feels different to him, since he wrote it long before the rest of the album. The absence of the band lends weight to that claim, and the track seems like it means a lot to him.
With the accompaniment back in force, the next three songs all cause some sing-along. The first, ‘Nitrous’, has a small section of the crowd singing, until the “You’re Not Alone” bit where more voices join in. ‘Fever To The Form’ and ‘Cucurucu’ take us to the end of the main set. Rapturous applause breaks out and lots of enthusiastic faces demand an encore.
Returning to stage soon after leaving, Mulvey confesses “It’s too hot to leave you for too long”. I for one am grateful he came to that conclusion, it is very warm. Finishing the night is ‘First Mind’, the title track to the debut album, and then ‘The House Of Saint Give Me’, played alone after the band leave the stage. “I’m totally made up” are Mulvey’s last words before the final song.
He is heading out to support London Grammar on tour and is also playing a bunch of festivals this summer. If it gets to October and you still haven’t had the privilege of watching him perform, he will be doing his own headline tour. That tour will culminate with a gig at Manchester Cathedral and his sound is perfect for the acoustics of that place. I highly recommend getting down there to see him there, just please don’t buy all the tickets before I manage to get mine.
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Silent Radio Editor-in-chief. Watching excellently crafted live music is one of the great pleasures I get to enjoy. Having too often seen excellent bands fail to garner the attention I believe they deserve, I'm here to spread the good word of the under-appreciated musical performer. I encourage everyone who is reading this to do the same. Get in touch if you'd like to do that here.
