On the back of plaudits aplenty, including a nomination for last years Mercury Prize, Laura Marling is in an enviable position as the darling of the nu/pop/anti/whatever-folk scene. Supporting Neil Young and being likened to every female songwriter goddess from Joni Mitchell to Joan Baez, are accolades that most career musicians would give their eye teeth for. That this bright young thing hasn’t even reached the age of 20 yet is nothing short of remarkable.
Using this new found notability Laura Marling chose to share with the London crowd the people and music that shaped her career so far. From the moment Ian McKellen’s dulcit tones informed the audience to switch off their phones, the congregation was settled into a very special evening indeed.
If the stage covered with couches didn’t invite enough of a cosy front room atmosphere, the perfomer kicked things of with a home-movie of herself interviewing ‘The Friends’. The amount of love shown to each musician could seem too much to the new-comer, but the evening was designed specifically to show the level of companionship these people share. If this smacks of backslapping to the casual reader, it certainly wasn’t taken that way by the sell-out crowd.
After the film Laura took to the stage and informed the audience of the nights proceedings. First she would play a song, then she’d introduce a friend to play a song, then she’d play a song and then she’d introduce a friend to play. Lather, rinse, repeat. This format could have easily upset the hard-core Marling faithful had it not been for the talent on display. Tour favourites Johnny Flynn and Mumford and Sons were well known to the majority of the crowd and garnered the apporpriate responses, but it was the lesser known acts such as Peggy Sue, Alessi’s Ark and Sons Of Noel And Adrian that really took the opportunity to show what they could do head on.
The only complaints would be that one-song a piece wasn’t nearly enough. The collaborative side was also not fully explored, but with musicians such as Andrew Bird flying all the way fom Oslo just to play a solitary tune, the at times ramshackle nature of the nights events can be forgiven. Considering the stage played host to 30 plus artists, that the night didn’t degenerate into carnage is testament to all involved.
With a line-up this well-honed the host had her work cut out to make sure all guests, especially the audience, were happy when she returned. Ultimately though the crowd was there to see the young artist herself. And she didn’t disappoint. If the speeches between songs showed her inexperienced side the music certainly didn’t. Songs from ‘Alas,I Cannot Swim’ received the biggest reactions of the night but thanks to the amount of material available on youtube, even the ‘new’ material was greeted with a thousand whispers of ‘I love this one’. Stand-out of the new material was a full band version of Rambling Man, a Dylan-esque ode to the Dr. Suess philosophy of ‘Be who you are’.
A remarkable night that showed the promise of a woman who should be around for some time. The cynics might say that hosting your own (filmed) concert before the release of your second album sways on the side of arrogance but if the level of modesty and respect for her fellow artists presented tonight can be considered arrogant, then long may her arrogance continue. A possible yearly event? Fans of discerning and deliberate songwriting should certainly hope so.
‘I Speak Because I Can’ is out Monday 22nd. The Special Edition features footage from the concert.
Oh and Laura, if you’re reading, you still owe me a few hundred words on Mighty Aprhodite…
