There isn’t a lot left to be said about Anna Calvi, her new album ‘Hunter’ or her live performances, because almost every single online and print music publication in the country has lost their collective shit over how good the new material and shows are.
The Manchester Ritz played host on Monday evening and despite the show taking place on the second most unsociable night of the week, the venue was full when Calvi appeared out of the red mist on stage.
Opening with Rider To the Sea, the first track on her debut album, Calvi demonstrated her outrageous skills as a guitarist as her fingers moved at lightning speed, ripping into the strings without missing a beat.
No lyrics, no other instruments used, just raw ability.
‘Here I am.’
The rest of the set included tracks from all three albums, all of which were delivered with astonishingly big vocals from such a diminutive individual.
The depth and range of Calvi’s thunderously powerful voice can only be appreciated when seeing her live, though it comes through in all of her albums, it’s hard to grasp how formidable and soft it really is.
Something which became more and more obvious as the show went on, was that Calvi is a natural born superstar, and there is no glass ceiling she won’t obliterate as her sound evolves.
All of the top music outlets were all over the release of ‘Hunter’ and her European tour, which concludes in four months, highlights the popularity and demand for Calvi.
In Manchester, her performance was full of swagger, purpose and dripped with electric energy, commanding every second of her time on stage. It’s no wonder every major city for hundreds and hundreds of miles around wants her.
(Aside)
The only observation I have about the evening outside of the music, was the makeup of the crowd.
Standing right at the front and a few feet from stage, I was expecting to be shoulder with a load of fiery Mancunians in their mid-20’s, being pushed and shoved left, right, forwards and back, I was expecting to have a full pint poured all over my white shirt and my feet stamped all over by inexplicably tall people who only ever seem to exist at gigs.
But none of that happened, it was awful.
90% of the people at the show were my dad’s age, which isn’t a problem because I literally bought a ticket for my dad and went with him, I was just expecting a few more young people throwing their weight around and I think Calvi would too, so get yourself along to one of her shows if you’re still eligible for a young persons rail card.
Curious Jeorge 