On a stage covered with frilly red curtains, vases of flowers and porcelain figures, Kate Nash looks like she's sitting in a Granny's living room. Or she would do if Granny’s had a penchant for 8ft speakers and electric guitars.
Playing at Nottingham Trent Students Union, Nash was greeted by torrents of support from the many fans that had turned up to the sold-out gig. It was great to hear that most of the people present knew all the words to every song on the album, not just her single releases! For an artist who emerged on the popular music scene less than a year ago, that's pretty impressive.
Through her videos, Nash comes across as a very poppy, pissed-off mockney lass. On stage however, this impression is shattered. She plays the piano and guitar, and not for just a few songs like some other pop artists. She is the only pianist on the stage and is very competent too.
She's nothing like the Nash we see in the Foundations video. Onstage she is shy and humbled by the crowd's support, blushing as someone shouts a declaration of love. A revelation for those unfamiliar with her work is that the majority of her songs are heart-felt, passionate and sung in this way too.
There are plenty of tongue-in-cheek lyrics, not unlike those of the Arctic Monkeys or The Streets. Such a song is Birds, which if people were still allowed to smoke in venues these days, would have been received with a sea of lighter-flames. The song is a passionate story of love, but relayed in Nash’s typical cheeky style: "Birds can fly so high and they can shit on your head/Yeah they can almost fly into your eye and make you feel so scared/But when you look at them and you see that they are beautiful/That's how I feel about you.”
Another of the crowd favourites was the song Dickhead; at least, it was with the female demographic. An Estuary English accent coupled with bad grammar seem to be the vital ingredients for creating crowd-rocking songs these days. Not needing to think about using the correct tense probably helps the crowd to rock-out that little bit better.
Inevitably, it was Nash’s singles that generated the most noise from the audience. Talking to the crowd whilst sipping a cup of tea (Yes, the lyrics to Mouthwash are true!), only underlines the surprising fact that Nash is actually quite shy and mousey. At least she is when talking.
During her more upbeat tracks, Nash bobs up and down on her piano stool like a child having a tantrum, such is the ferocity of her musical passion. Mouthwash and the final song of the night Pumpkin Soup were such numbers, and had much of the audience dancing.
For an artist labelled as sitting in the mainstream pop category, Nash maintains a huge level of musical talent. The fact that actual instruments are played and there isn't a mime-track in sight brings hope and strength to the fact that real live music is here to stay, and isn’t the sole preserve of less mainstream acts. More artists like Kate Nash please!
No comments:
Post a Comment