Photo: WENN
The accordingly bustling crowd in Shepherd’s Bush Empire didn’t leave a single space unoccupied as the Mercury-nominated Mulvey stepped into the spotlight. It was an opening which perhaps lacked a certain kick-start. His sound is so atmospheric, centred around his exceptional guitar playing that the eerie ‘April’ felt like a slightly subdued beginning.
There was audible-chit chatting in between songs by the merry London audience as Mulvey struggled to gain the crowd's full attention. The third song of the evening ‘Meet Me There’ was a turning point, a much more lively, memorable song from the album seemed to hold the crowds gaze much more effectively. Mulvey moved from ‘Elsa’ to ‘Venus’ to ‘Juramidam’, the last of which particularly pleased the audience.
Mulvey’s extensive training was evident in his guitar playing, making highly difficult techniques look like second nature. The band exited for the two tracks that followed, ‘I Don’t want to go Home’ and ‘The Trellis’, during which Mulvey reached his full stride and the audience responded as such, with an affectionate applause.
This left Mulvey’s biggest tracks to conclude the set, ‘Fever to the Form’ in particular was without doubt the biggest moment - a smooth, flawless rendition had the crowd moving far more than any other moment. ‘Cucurucu’ preceded the encore, which began (slightly bizarrely) with a cover of Drake’s ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’, “Bet you weren't expecting that!”
‘Nitrous’ was the closer. There was a hint of a mistake towards the end, which Mulvey recovered from in a typically professional manner, the sing-along finale “Open your mind, Surely it’s plain to see” left the audience in no doubt that Mulvey is an exceptional performer, whose song-writing ability is unquestionable.
