After becoming quickly addicted to this album and rekindling my love for his past albums I didn't care what I'd have to pay, blood may it be, to see him somewhere, someway, to see him live. Back in the summer I bought a ticket for his Halloween date at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena. Unfortunately Nutini contracted bad tonsillitis and postponed his tour. I was absolutely gutted, I can't lie, but having suffered myself with chronic laryngitis for three months over the summer I was more than sympathetic to this. For a singer who has so much soul and power in his voice, I'd happily wait a long while to see him at his full potential, and that he sure delivered on his new date there on 13th January 2015.
His support consisted of Vaults, a relatively unheard band consisting of two male members playing bass, percussion of some sort, bells, and synths and a strong female vocalist with the voice similar to Rae Morris and a dress sense not too far off Florence Welch. They very much fit the rage of indie bands at the moment, from the likes of London Grammar, they produced haunting, chilled music that made you definitely listen, but not exactly warm the audience up.
She graced the stage and danced around in the musical breaks, floaty, interpretive and very Kate Bush inspired. Not too talkative but she had a brilliant powerful voice and informed us one of their songs had just been confirmed on the '50 Shades of Grey' motion picture soundtrack. If you're a fan of artists like Flo and London Grammar, Vaults, although quite difficult to find, play music in that indie, haunting genre.
Not too long after, the stage was set up, ready for brass, synths, guitars and some kind of projections. Nutini not being one really for the big production scale and dance routines, I was intrigued to see what he would do on such a large scale stage.
Opening with his interlude of 'Bus Talk', the singer and his band immediately burst onto stage and erupted with 'Scream', which, the audience too did. Forced to postpone, this gig date turned out to be the last on the tour and you could definitely see he wasn't going to leave it a dull ending. Nutini and his band smiling and loving every second performed to their full potential.
Although his voice on the album is just full of soul and rasp, I definitely think his voice is better live. He embodies the notes, which sounds odd to picture, but you can see the voice almost explode out of him from everywhere. He uses all his strength to sing the power and emotion into songs, such noticed in 'One Day' and 'Iron Sky'. Now I'm not hipster when I say this, but I was in the minority at first with not actually being that bigger fan of 'Iron Sky' on the album but live, my mind was completely changed. Goosebumps and shivers were created on almost all the audience, of its chilling lyrics.
It was nice to have a range as well from his setlist. From powerful and political songs like 'Iron Sky', to 'Looking For Something' which he introduced and dedicated to his mother. We also heard classics like 'Candy', 'Pencil Full of Lead' and a glimpse of 'New Shoes' which had the crowd going.
To end the tour with a bang he did not one, not two but three encores, including a cover to show off his two 'local lads' from the brass section from the band who were from Cardiff, by doing a cover of 'Time to Pretend' by MGMT. A few confused looks on audiences faces but it was fun, and Paolo definitely was enjoying himself. So much so he came into the audience slightly which meant I may have touched his hand and got a little excited, but hey, I've loved him since the 'Jenny Don't Be Hasty' days, I'm allowed to.
He then did a crowd classic of 'Last Request' just alone and it suddenly got a lot more intimate and emotional. Not one person didn't sing along and at times we were louder than him, astounding him with big smiles and thank you's .
All in all it was so, so, so worth the wait and the measly 35 pounds that I paid, I seriously would've paid a lot more for his beautiful , soulful voice and beautiful performance. All I can say is, bring on Isle of Wight Festival with my best friend, we're in for a treat with a festival set from Mr Nutini
Sophie
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