Nerina Pallot

Nerina PallotNorwich Arts Centre 18/10/14There are, quite frankly, a few reasons why this show shouldn't be quite as good as it is. Pallot is ten months into her 'Year of the EP', releasing new material every month, touring constantly and, just to top it all off, she tells us she has just today had someone tend to a back injury that threatened the very happening of this evening. It would be understandable if fatigue had set in and left us a flagging artist on stage, but there is hardly a hint of it. She breezes into the room as the most understated force of nature you'll ever encounter, charming and unstoppable. She sits, smiles, and sings, parading fingertips along a keyboard and welcoming an enchanted crowd into her world for the night. As it turns out, it's a pretty lovely place. There's plenty of quirky little numbers alongside these quieter, more measured moments during which Pallot's stirring vocal seems to hang above our heads, kissing the atmosphere and making it blush. Yes, the hits are here, and they should be. As the singer remarks, they are the songs that gave her a career and brought her to the attention of the many. My worry though, always, is that these might overshadow the strengths of the more unfamiliar. A song like Boy On The Bus, genuinely touching and powerful in light of its origin, deserves to be well remembered. It's one of those quietly nerve-shattering tracks, among others, that lands on something far too real and raw for many of us to actually talk about in the light of day or outside of lyric. Pallot remains consistently formidable as a songstress and captivating to watch at work.This all sounds terribly serious, I know. Actually it's a light hearted, relaxed affair full of nice little touches. Her band reappearing on stage a few tracks early results in an improvised version of Everybody's Gone to War, and at the request of somewhat talkative audience member there's an attempt to piece together a rendition of Rainbow from 2001 debut album Dear Frustrated Superstar. We get a verse and a chorus before it falls apart, but the effort goes down well with the endeared Norfolkonians. Pallot is nothing but a complete pro at this. This isn't - as it sometimes is - some obscured way of saying she's been around for a while now. What I mean is that the show is, or appears to have been, executed effortlessly, beautifully, with an ease that means you never have to be concerned with what's going on but can simply let the music do its delightful thing. We're sent away with a final airing of Sophia, which has to be my favourite of the singles and is a wonderful way to bring the curtain down. As tonics for the soul go, it rarely gets better than this.