Lucy Rose – Live At Heaven, London

Outstanding

Alone in performance, Nathan Holme plays looping bedroom productions with both crunchy and clear electric guitar effects. “Do you want to see Lucy or not?” he asks. Surprisingly he’s answered with cries of “No!” The young man evidently a hit with the mob of fourteen-year-old girls now possessed by his presence. This is the biggest solo show he’s done by a long way, and admiringly he makes loads of noise for a singer/songwriter who’s only minutes into his career.

Riding on a new wave of modern folk is To Kill a King, whose set only gets worse in the trail of ‘Bloody Shirt’. ‘Howling’ – the first track off the band’s ‘Word Of Mouth’ EP – draws attention to some nice a cappella vocals, but the rockier songs that follow bring to mind contemporaries Dry The River. Charted waters.

Lucy Rose’s vibrato is outstanding, and tonight, on her 23rd birthday, her band is too. They’ve filled out Heaven with a handful of singles and an album coming out 24th September, the same day as Mumford & Sons’ follow-up to ‘Sigh No More’. Such is her fan-base that Rose is sung ‘Happy Birthday’ by the three-hundred-or-so attendees. “I don’t know how you know it’s my birthday,” she reveals before ‘Nightbus’, a tender, simple song that is one of her best. Lucy’s new single ‘Lines’ moves the set forward with a pulsating rhythm, suggesting an exciting growth from her trademark gentle songs. “This is by far one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a long time,” says Rose. Be prepared Mumford & Sons.

Words by Jake Young
Photo by Rosie Wadey

Click here for a photo gallery of the gig.

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