Live Review: Lizzy McAlpine - O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester 27/10/2024
Lizzy McAlpine brings the comfort and warmth of her LA studio to the Victoria Warehouse stage. Backed by an exceptional ‘Nashville’-style band, McAlpine treated the crowd to a thoughtful and mellow set, showcasing her deeply personal storytelling and immaculate vocal ability.
With no support opener, Lizzy and the band arrived on the stage to the ambient sounds of dreamy synths and tweeting birds before easing into the opening track ‘The Elevator’. Also the opener from her latest record ‘Older’, the patiently building track is the perfect introduction to the band, with each element, whether that’s pedal steel or upright piano, having its own moment to shine. The track is short but builds to an emotional outro peak, with the full band kicking in and uplifting vocal chant melody. It was the perfect soft opening to the night.
The band transitions smoothly into ‘Come Down Soon’, a fan favourite from her latest record. The staging and setup for this tour are beautifully simple. Lizzy and the band are seated, with large studio-style headphones for monitoring instead of in-ears. The setting is also studio-like, with living room lamps emitting a warm orange glow. It feels authentic and comforting, like the music they perform.
Before another favourite from the new album, ‘All Falls Down’, Lizzy opens up to the crowd about her problems with touring in the past and how comfortable the ‘Older’ tour has been thus far. The crowd is supportive and sings passionately with the lyric “25 at a sold-out show” in the following song.
Having watched the ‘Making Of The Album’ documentary on YouTube, it’s a privilege to see the same band who recorded ‘Older’ performing every night of the tour with Lizzy. Whether the tasteful keys of Taylor Mackall or the elegant pedal steel licks of Tyler Nuffer, the band is full of incredible talent. Having effectively ‘stolen’ the backing band of Ryan Beatty, Lizzy has found the perfect selection of players to enhance her emotionally charged songwriting on the live stage.
Her track ‘doomsday’ was a nice addition to the set, taken from her commercially successful record ‘five seconds flat’ from 2022. Despite being recorded in a completely different, more ‘pop’ production style, her 2024 band makes the track seamlessly fit in with the rest of her newer material. A 2024 re-recording would be lovely. Another special moment was Lizzy’s solo acoustic cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Edith and the Kingpin’. Although an underrated Joni track, Lizzy delivered flawlessly, showcasing her immaculate vocal range and ability to pitch perfectly consistently.
Love song ‘Soccer Practice’ was dedicated to a young performer Lizzy met in her hotel covering this song earlier that day. She’d also given them free tickets for the show (hopefully they went!). The surprise encore track ‘Apple Pie’ was beautifully intimate and performed solo acoustic by Lizzy. A track taken from her 2020 debut, you could feel the emotion in the Manchester crowd. The set drew to its final summit through smash hit ender ‘ceilings’. The band’s new arrangement of this track is stunning, with its emotional organ part and building guitars. It was a stunning end to an immaculate set.
Having seen Lizzy a couple of years ago in the tiny Club Academy, I can wholeheartedly say the Older Tour feels like McAlpine’s true authentic self. The band is immaculate, the setting is perfect, but most importantly, she seems happy and comfortable touring this way.
Words by Euan Blackman
Photo Credit: Deanie Chen
