Live Review: Paolo Nutini - Alexandra Palace, London 25/10/2022
‘Are you standing comfortably? You are now listening to the Paolo Nutini experience.’ This should have been the PSA for the Scot’s sensational and supercharged return to Ally Pally.
Nutini delivered a transcendental experience, injecting a mix of 60s psychedelia and 80s anthemic rock into his tunes.
With the help of his band, he breathed new life into his cherished back catalogue and established his new songs as modern classics.
The two-hour-long set was a balancing act of slow emotive hits and soulful bubbling highs. It was nothing short of a wild and magical trip, with his distinctive love songs at the heart of the show.
Alexandra Palace was absolutely packed door to the wall and there was a tangible excitement in the air before the much-loved Scotsman took the stage.
The first track of the night, ‘Afterneath’ set the scene and kickstarted his band into action. Searing ethereal synths, slow percussion and guitar twangs were met by Paolo’s warm and tenacious vocals.
The iconic speech from True Romance rang out of the speakers on a loop and reverberated around the venue: "You’re so cool, you’re so cool".
It was swiftly met by what everyone had been waiting for - Nutini’s thick Scottish drawl, as he launches into ‘Lose It’, a Zeppelin-esque rowdy funk and rock banger.
He addressed the buzzing crowd: “It’s good to be here with you beautiful people, let’s have some fun”, before performing crowd favourite ‘Funk My Life Up’.
A hypnotising kaleidoscope of colour morphed together on the visuals while Paolo's voice belted out the song, his elastic voice possessing the same fluidity and shapeshifting skills of the kaleidoscope on the screen.
He then moved smoothly onto new album standout ‘Acid Eyes’, a brooding, heartfelt 80s-esque rock pop ballad - closing his eyes as the track poured out of him.
A moment of calm followed when he performed hymnal prayer-like ‘Stranded Words (Interlude)’, calling out “but tonight I need you the most” to the crowd, as a muffled and ambient beat built up in the background.
As the gig progressed, Paolo’s emotions were more tangible with each track. During ‘Better Man’, he was wearing every note on his face, often with his eyes closed - fully in the moment.
That’s not to say he was too consumed to not engage with the audience. He was regularly expressing his appreciation, cracking up in big laughs between songs.
He is self-assured on-stage, clearly ecstatic to be back. While his performance style and movement on stage have mellowed, his voice has gotten more beautifully coarse and powerful.
Throughout the show, he howls, hollers and harmonises, but his voice never cracks - at times cutting through your core.
There was no better example of this than during ‘Through the Echoes’, during the breakdown chorus Paolo’s voice sounded as if it could crack the atmosphere in half.
The more he wailed louder, the more frenzied the crowd, to which Paolo gleefully approved: ‘Yes London, yes’.
From here on Paolo’s Magical Mystery Tour really got going. When he launched into Cherry Blossom, a bubble machine started to fill the lofty room with shiny spheres.
The vibe switched to 60s psych-rock vibes with psychedelic drum beats, prominent high hats, meandering sitar-like guitar aplenty and a drop of voice distortion.
It was at this point genius bolder rearrangements of his much-loved hits started to be introduced, bridging the gap between his classic early ballads and his newer soul-fuelled songs, and giving the band to chance to take greater risks on setlist order too.
‘Petrified in Love’ was given a thrashy distorted scuzz treatment, while ‘Pencil Full of Lead’ gave more ‘Boys of Summer’ vibes than Jackie Wilson’s ‘Reet Petite’. This new version of the song is regularly chosen by the band for their live performances at festivals and shows like Jools Holland.
Early Paolo fan favourite ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty’ was subverted into a sleazier, bluesy outfit. The band then dropped a key to dive straight into a rendition of The Undertones ‘Teenage Kicks’.
Meanwhile, a pensive Paolo stalked the stage before adlibbing about a lost lover: ‘Forget about her buddy cause she’s gone, oh yeh she’s long gone, and what do I do?’, before tipping his hat to 2007’s New Shoes - “there’s only one thing you can do…just put the new shoes ON.’
Revisiting these greatest hits prompted him to confess to the audience how much it meant to him to be at Ally Pally.
He balanced the sonic trip down memory lane, with a new track - Pink Floyd sounding ‘Take Me Take Mine’ - as slow, mushroom-shaped smoke plumes floated around the visuals on stage.
‘Candy’ got the whole crowd singing their hearts out, so powerful Paolo commended them for their ‘Lovely singing’, while ‘Everywhere’, a new rhythmic bluesy love song made their hearts swell a little bit bigger.
After the encore, trippy visuals from Dumbo played on the screen and the band launched into Let Me Down Easy, before Paolo announced the electrifying ‘Iron Sky’, with an acute political intro: “This song is for everyone in the audience. Fuck the wee silly bastards”.
He then erupted into the uprising anthem ‘Iron Sky’. The sentiment of the song never more apt than our current climate now as Paolo howls: “From which we'll rise over love, Over hate, From this iron sky…. Over fear and into freedom".
‘Shine A Light', a boisterous, thundering track provided a calmer, more optimistic balm to the fury of ‘Iron Sky’. It’s anthemic arena-ready pop that was made for being performed in a place like Ally Pally.
When the curtains were called the band took a bow and made their way offstage to wild applause, Paolo couldn’t resist ‘one more' to the audience’s delight, as he humbly revealed ‘it's been a pleasure’.
The evening finished with nothing but Paolo, a single spotlight and the audience, as he gently eased into playing ‘Abigail’.
Lights on, Paolo gone, and just like that, the musical trip was over. We’re left with his final words of the night, “I love you all very much” and the high from seeing one of, if not the, best singers the UK has.
We love you too Paolo, please don't make us wait another eight years until the next show, we're addicted again.
Words by Monique Hall
