A 'proper' gig

Wednesday night, we went to see Paulo Nutini (aka PYFB*) at Leeds Met. ‘We’** go back over two years with Paulo, having first seen him at the Bedford, but this was the first time I’d seen him since then, and now he’s properly famous.

It was a ‘proper’ gig, and I was bizarrely rather nervous of this, as it’s years since I’ve been to one – the last would be when I was at Uni, I guess, though not many bands ever played St John’s. I’ve been to a lot of gigs over the last couple of years, but they’ve been those of a very select group of artists, of a type where people of my age are in the majority, and where behaviour is very different to that at a ‘proper’ gig, with frequently a sort of hushed reverence when people are singing.

It quickly struck me that most of the audience had his album, as they were singing the songs back at him, and he looked so thrilled at that, even though it must happen every night at the moment. He’s got a surprisingly mature voice for a 19 year old.

He pretty much played the whole of the album, but each song was a surprise, as the combination of the fact that he mumbles, and his impenetrable Scottish accent meant we had no idea what song he was announcing. I’m told the audience were a bit quiet, and didn’t really get into it till the last few songs, but it seemed pretty lively to my limited experience. What I can testify to is that the floor wasn’t good for bouncing, being hard concrete, and that if I’m going to do this on a more regular basis I need ‘gig shoes’ as my feet were killing me by the end of the evening. I did feel very proud of him, as everyone sang along to ‘These Streets’ and ‘Last Request’.

Afterwards, as usual, we were looking for a late bar, and Cat’s phone turned up trumps, finding us one very close to where we were standing. Though the description of ‘a gentleman’s club, with leather sofas’, ahem, left a little to be desired – but we found a late drink, so all was well.

*Posh Young Farmer Boy, as christened by Corinne and Nik

**‘We’ in this context being the ND, as there’s sort of a shared ownership of ‘our’ boys