Live Review: Nell Mescal - The Social, London 15/09/2022
If seven years of bad luck from breaking a mirror manifest in the shape Nell Mescal’s beautifully mesmerising gig at The Social in London, queue up the mirrors and hammers cuz we want more!
Those who have been come to gigs at The Social in the past know that the venue has a certain charm to it that’s activated with acts of the indie pop genre come on stage. Between the neon lights, the slightly odd level setup of the dance floor and the tables, and the overall feel of intimacy the venue has, an almost magical environment is generated. In such a tight venue, there’s very little distractions for the audience and all eyes, quite literally, are on the performer which can certainly be slightly intimidating. But not for 19-year-old Nell Mescal who took the stage by storm last week with an enviable ease as if she had been doing this all her life.
The mood of the night was initially set up by the incredible stripped back performance of the support act Kai Bosch whose vocals took people aback from the second he whispered the first words to the mic. Opening with his track ‘Future Stranger’, Kai took us on an emotional ride that involved powerful vocals beyond measure and many spider references that hit the spot.
Anticipation was definitely real by the time Nell’s set started. Everyone in the crowd, including fans, family, friends, industry and more were eagerly awaiting. The second lights went off and the band came out to take their instruments, people were hyper-fixated as Irish darling singer/songwriter sat on the keys and without hesitation started reciting dazzling lyrics.
Needless to say the set was filled with admittedly “quirky” moments that included genuine interactions with the crowd who seemed to know the words of songs both released and unreleased like they’ve been listening to them for years. The range that Nell has as a performer is astonishing as she can go from having the crowd on the verge of tears while she’s softly tickling the ivory to a full on mosh pit waiting to happen while she jumps on stage and fans follow. The chokehold she had on us was very real.
There’s also a very peculiar taste to such intimate gigs which allows for the performer to be vulnerable in a way you would not expect them to be, however Nell seemed to have everything under control, even after smashing a mirror back stage — shooketh!
The highlight of the performance however was her track ‘Graduating’, written about “not graduating” with the help of producer Steph Marziano (Hayley Williams, The National, Sam Smith). The song certainly showcases Nell’s impeccable young lyricism that resembles that of Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus as well as her soothingly powerful vocals. Regardless of age, everyone at the gig was singing that song along.
It really felt like every person present was unbelievably proud of Nell and her band and as the last song ended, we were left craving more.
Words by Nicole Otero
