Reviews

Artist:Nancy Elizabeth
Venue:The Union Chapel Bar
Town:London
Date:24 Sep 09
Website:www.nancyelizabeth.co.uk/

"Good Evening, I'm going to do a bit of a different gig tonight" said Manchester's Nancy Elizabeth. "My new album's coming out in a few weeks … and I've decided I'm going to play it from start to finish"

And it all started with "Cairns". Sat at a piano with guitar on her lap, her clear voice resonated around The Union Chapel's bar, testing its reputation of possessing some the finest acoustics in London. The bar coped wonderfully and there was even a slight criticism that the sound was too good, and it is true, you could almost tell if the barman was opening a can of Fosters or Red Stripe but the crowd remained deathly quiet, their only sound being rapturous applause between songs.

Elizabeth alternated between piano and guitar until "Feet Of Courage" where she used the back of a hard chair, the heel of her shoe and some tiny bells to beat out the rhythm. We were reminded that this was an album recital as we were told that "It feels weird, I normally talk between songs, but there's no talking on my album".

After a couple of piano tracks "Diving" and the instrumental "Cat Bells" (instrumental because the cats talking on the album could not be reproduced!) Elizabeth picked up a semi-acoustic guitar that had been waiting patiently in one corner of the stage. Despite this being a "not very good guitar", "Canopy", "Lay Low" and "The Act" were my favourite songs of the performance.

Elizabeth was right; this recital of "Wrought Iron" was different and by the end of the final track "Winter, baby" I wished there was a repeat button so I could listen to the whole thing again. By way of some consolation there was an encore (or bonus track, perhaps?), an acapella version of Lal Waterson's "The Cornfield". Ordinarily, a set of just over three quarters of an hour would have seemed painfully short, but this was just perfect.

The Jacket
Pics Mark Winpenny

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