Portland, Oregon singer-songwriter Laura Veirs: Playing The Crescent, in York, on her six-day visit to British shores. Picture: Paul Rhodes
WE COULDN’T have been in better hands. With Venus apparently sending us all a bit bats in the heavens, Laura Veirs’ fine songs reminded us about what really matters.
Many in the sold-out Crescent had seen her play before, some many times. This is someone who gets into the listener’s bloodstream and stays there. For a first timer, it was a welcome initiation into this smart, emotionally intelligent cult.
Laura Veirs: “Over 75 minutes and 13 songs, she wove her happy spell to great effect.” Picture: Paul Rhodes
This was the second concert in a short six-day UK tour. The absence of other musicians allowed Veirs the chance to improvise and the entire set felt fresh and alive. There was a well-judged mix of old and new material on show, with the last songs in the set all being audience requests.
Veirs is unashamedly in a happy place emotionally (she is touring with her fiancé, a professor receiving a crash course in selling merchandise). Over 75 minutes and 13 songs, she wove her happy spell to great effect. Once she got into her rhythm (somewhere around Where Gravity Is Dead), the performance kept getting better.
Laura Veirs’ beloved nylon string guitar. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Swan Dive was particularly special, and she more than did justice to another one-time Portland native, the late great Elliott Smith’s Between The Bars. What is striking perhaps is how subtly Veirs wears her influences, and how with minimal ingredients she somehow manages to sound unique and authentic. Perhaps this is the real reason she is so beloved.
Opener Lucca Mae has yet to find her own distinctive voice. Also, without her band, Mae’s set felt elegant and stylised, but somehow generic. The focus was on her Winehouse voice, which her songs don’t yet live up to.
Opening act Lucca Mae. Picture: Paul Rhodes