22 November 2010 (gig)
23 October 2010
The Q awards at the magnificent Forum in Kentish Town, hosted a series of great shows, with Glaswegian Paolo Nutini headlining Friday night. And to add the sparkle, pretty girls dressed in jangling sequinned dresses were handing out various concoctions of Russian Standard mixtures in the VIP bar.
Tim Robbins and the Rogues Gallery Band start off the show, yes the actor of Shawshank Redemption fame, Academy Award winner, Oscar winner, director, producer and now fancying himself a rock star too too. Actors turned singers naturally leave themselves open to a level of scrutiny not felt by new artists, and those who make the mistake of assuming that their level of popularity will translate across genres need to take a step back and ask someone they trust, whether it works.
Maybe Tim Robbins did ask a friend, and maybe the friend saw him in more natural setting, believed the dream or truly thought he had musical talent, but if he wasn’t an A-lister with an influential PR campaign, I very much doubt he would have been booked to please such a large venue of Paolo Nutini fans.
The highlight of Robbins' his set were his covers of popular songs, including Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ which at least added familiarity to his otherwise slow-paced set, lacking a distinctive vocalist. Still, you cant fault a man for trying to live out a desire he must have always have had, but perhaps take a more light-hearted approach and start of at smaller venues, family and friends first?
Paolo Nutini is a big Celtic fan, and he wants to make that clear, so in good taste he had hundreds of green and white balloons, hoisted above the crowd and awaiting release. Although performing in front of a couple of thousand people, Nutini has not lost his raw Glaswegian appeal and you can imagine him playing an open mic night in front of 30 people, still acting the same; an aloof, shy but captivating performer, not great at communicating with the crowd.
Nutini’s set featuresd frequent trumpet solo introductions, with intermittent sax and reverberating guitar solos. This delightful concoction epitomizes his love for his jazz idols – Cab Calloway, Wynonie Harris and Louis Prima, and gives a new aura to his show. The contrast between the 8 man strong band, and quieter songs with only simple guitar riffs, give an intimate feeling to an otherwise lively set full of old-time sounds – soul, reggae, folk, bluegrass, ragtime, which he combines refreshingly well to an audience perhaps not familiar with the sounds of the past.
The fans clearly love and know the songs well, with ‘Pencil Full of Lead,’ ‘Candy’ and of course ‘New Shoes’ getting the biggest sing-a-longs. An alternative intro into ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty’ is a refreshing alteration of a song that helped break Nutini into fame. He must have performed it countless times so it’s no surprise he jazzed it up a little. The air is hot, the crowd is dancing and the vodka ladies are shimmying in their sparkly dresses, even all the kids from Q magazine are standing, clapping. Cue the green and white balloons raining onto the crowd – which suddenly turns into a slow-motion balloon war, giving the feel of being inside a music video.
As the crowd cheer for an encore, they are not disappointed. Nutini delivers a cover to MGMT’s ‘Time to Pretend’ before ending the show with ‘Last Request’ – a fitting ending to the bluesy-reggae journey he shared with us.
