Some of his straighter more rock-oriented tracks like Jenny Don't Be Hasty and Cherry Blossom were a good opportunity to let loose with the really gravelly side of his vocal chords, but were less musically interesting, and there was a definite lull right in the middle of the set with too many slow numbers on a row (Better Man, These Streets, and Diana), although it was touching to hear that Looking For Something was inspired by his mother, who was surprisingly in the crowd.
Numpty was a shimmying, slightly cheeky bright spot in the lull, but the atmosphere ramped back up again for the sultry torch song One Day, and a new rollicking version of Pencil Full Of Lead, which eschews the slightly gimmicky harmonica and hoe-down style of the original for a much more meaty country-rock approach, was a real arms-in-the-air moment.
He rounded things up with sweet ballad No Other Way, and the slightly earnest, empowerment anthem Iron Sky. That would've been a very serious place to leave things though, so luckily he came back for an extended encore.
Though that too proved to be a little on the slow and downbeat side, with an emphasis on romantic songs from his back catalogue (Candy, Last Request), and felt a little more like an outro than an exclamation mark style finale.
Overall the Italian Scotsman proved an able showman, in fine voice, and with plenty of presence in front of his excellent band, and the crowd clearly enjoyed themselves. But there's only so much you can do to elevate square songs in a live setting, and Nutini needs a few more true sizzlers in his set to really fly.
* Paolo Nutini performs at the Powerstation again this evening, with a few final tickets being released today.
Who: Paolo Nutini
Where and when: Powerstation, April 6 & 7.
- nzherald.co.nz
