Haven’t listened to Nadine Shah yet? Tusk, tusk…so many people were envious when I told them I was going to tonight’s gig, so many people were envious, and not just those who’d seen her before. Those who still have a chance to see her on this tour should get their acts together sharpish. You’ve been telt, as they say up here.
See, this year she’s released her fifth album and her most successful yet Filthy Underneath. It may have been born out of a very difficult few years personally, but it’s a compelling album that is reflective but crucially doesn’t wallow in self-pity. It has received universal acclaim and deservedly so. She’s back for her second visit to the Edinburgh International Festival (like a fool, I missed her here in 2021, but tonight more than makes up for it). Over the course of a sixteen-song set she’s never less than utterly mesmerising.
She opens with a performance of ‘Aching Bones’ that I note down is beguiling (perhaps not an adjective that is used very often in rock journalism, but it utterly fits.) She barely pauses for breath as she gives us several more songs (‘Fast Food,’ ‘Holiday Destination,’ ‘Even Light‘) before stopping to talk to the audience. ‘Any locals in?‘ she asks. Well, the city often swells to twice its normal size during August but it appears there are. Regardless of where we’re from, I can’t believe there isn’t anyone here who isn’t blown away.
Her band are brilliant, an excellent assembly of musicians who help deliver her atmospheric alternative rock to the stage. It’s not simply a recreation of the album, it’s rockier than on record. Perhaps the greatest moment is a glam-stomp version of ‘Greatest Dancer‘ (special kudos to drummer Evan Jenkins here).
And she really connects with her audience in ways that show she isn’t simply going through the motions. The way she dances and moves on stage in an elegant two-piece suit that says she doesn’t care what anyone thinks.
There’s a young girl, who can’t be more than seven years old, on the front for what might well be her first concert ever. On spotting her, Shah catches her eye and winks, and let’s her know as she goes on with her performance that she’s spotted her. She catches my eye too, although I think by the end of the gig everyone in the audience probably thinks that she’s met their eye.
A striking performance by a truly original artist. As we get up to leave, the lady sitting next to me is so moved, unprompted she talks to me and tells me that she didn’t know anything about Nadine Shah before the performance but she’s utterly impressed. I think she’ll be back soon, too. I’d felt ill earlier in the day and wasn’t sure if I would make it; I’m so glad I did.
