Nerina Pallot
6.30pm on a Saturday seems unfashionably early to be queuing outside The Waterfront Studio in Norwich's King Street. This is the penultimate leg of Nerina Pallot's UK tour, and whilst she may view the prospect of an early finish as an unexpected bonus, I have legged it across the city, without any tea, just to get here in time. Downstairs a 90's tribute dance act have also been pencilled in for an early start. So in the early evening April sunshine a mixture of neon-clad ravers mingle with soberly dressed 'Palloteers' as we await entrance to our respective entertainments of choice. And all because we need to be done and dusted before The Waterfront's regular Saturday club night kicks off at 10pm.
Opening support comes from a stripped back line-up of Teeside folk-pop band Cattle & Cane, which tonight features two out of the four Hammill siblings, with Helen on vocals and Joseph on vocals and guitar. Third band member Thomas Fripp joins them on keyboards. It is a pleasant enough introduction to the evening, Helen's gentle, almost smoky, vocals nestle comfortably alongside brother Joseph's voice and deft guitar work, whilst Thom's piano fills in any gaps left by the absence of bass or drums. The set includes tracks from the band's albums, Home, and Mirrors, as well as new song You Are Golden, but for me it is the emotionally charged closing number Tonight We Dance (Cleveland Hills) that really endeared them to me, conjuring up the memories of Middlesborough's past mineral wealth and industrial heritage.
Nerina Pallot arrives on stage after a well-executed stage turn round, and is joined by Norfolk's Lewis Wright on drums. and by Alex Bonfanti on bass. She opens with Juno, the haunting opening track from her latest album, before travelling to the expansive Idaho from 2005's Fires. Apologising for the early start, she explains that tonight's setlist has been re-jigged to bring forward the quieter and more emotionally charged songs 'before it all kicks off downstairs'. And, to make absolutely sure, she follows with the title track from Stay Lucky, a song so achingly beautiful that even my crystal balls emit an orbicular sigh each time it pops up on my Sonos. No wonder her son is eagerly anticipating new football boots on the back of its royalties.
Nerina Pallot's returning audiences (she affectionately refers to them as her repeat offenders), obviously love the quality of the songwriting and honesty of the performance, but also delight in the engagement and dry-witted observations and confessions that punctuate every show. Tonight, we share in the band's disappointment at missing out on their usual pre-gig Nando's, muse on the prospect of this being our final year as true Europeans, and get to nominate a glamorous partner city for Norwich, one which must have a posh hotel in which to stay. Budapest is almost rejected, until one wag remembers 'The Grand'.
Bird, Man Didn't Walk On The Moon, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, and Bring Him Fire all get an airing from Stay Lucky, and still leaving time for older songs like Daphne and Apollo, and the tragic Boy On The Bus. Audience favourite Sophia advances from its usual encore placing for reasons already stated. Pallot switches effortlessly from piano to acoustic and electric guitar, and the band adopts at times a leisurely, almost jazz-like pace. The set ends with the ambient musings of Rousseau before Pallot invites us to 'play that little game' in return for a stirring, hand clapping version of Year Of The Wolf's opener Put Your Hands Up, an appropriate and concluding antidote to the 90's shenanigans concluding beneath us. Upstairs, Now That's What I Call Music.
