Backed
with a remarkably talented acoustic guitarist, support act
Mara Carlyle shows an amazing amount of grace by appearing
totally unflustered by the noisy and packed room in front
of her. Her music treads high-quality Dido-esque territory
which in other hands would be totally forgotten but aided
by quality musical backing and bags of easy charisma Carlyle
wins over many watching. So charming she was that it felt
rude not to pay attention and those who did were rewarded
with a pleasant start to the night
The meteoric rise of Willy Mason has been quite astonishing.
It seems in a matter of weeks he has become the darling
of every indie kid, Radio 1 DJ and NME writer. This shows
because this tour and his next, much bigger, one are completely
sold out. So everyone here can count themselves lucky
because it’ll be the last chance they get to see
this precocious young star in such an intimate setting.
Anyone who was at Mason’s in-store performance
at Piccadilly Records across the street earlier in the
day must have had a slight fear going into the gig proper.
The young Mason came across as nervous and slightly startled,
not the quiet confidence of other American singer/songwriters
such as Sufjan Stevens and Conor Oberst. Those fears disappear
the moment the extremely inebriated Mason, bolstered by
some pre-performance fawning from some audience members,
takes to the stage. Bottle of Jack Daniels in hand, he
shares his liquor with some members of the front row before
driving into album opener ‘Gotta Keep Moving’
and the crowd go mental. Only now can we see why exactly
Mason has become so popular, it’s because of the
hyperbolic articles, the heavy radio play or indie credentials,
it’s because he writes fucking good songs.
Throwing most of the night open to requests, Mason shows
an ease on stage way beyond his years (further pushing
the “new Bob Dylan” tag he’s been lumbered
with). He takes us through most of his album with an enthusiastic
energy. ‘Oxygen’ is typically met with near-hysteria
although the audience had the foresight not to bother
requesting it. The methodical introspection of the album
version is abandoned in favour of country clatter, causing
mass sing-a-longs and general euphoria. Highlights of
the night are an almost unbearably gorgeous and tender
‘Live It Up’, showing that he can deal with
the personal and broader subjects with equal ease, and
a glorious stomp through folk anthem ‘So Long’.
As equally impressive as the performance, was the reaction
of the audience. As we all know flavour of the month acts
often attract the worst kind of posers, but tonight the
whole crowd was enraptured with the young man on stage,
casting near perfect silence when required and making
an unholy racket at the right times. Overall you felt
everyone there really appreciated the chance they were
getting and the sell out crowd loved every single moment
of it. As Willy himself sang “We can be stronger
than bombs if you’re singing along and you know
that you really believe”, well tonight a lot of
people were singing, watch out NATO.
luke alford
