It’s nice to start a gig with a bit of folk, isn’t it? Rozi Plain proved to be a pleasant warm-up for Anna Calvi at the Dome on Saturday night. She was thoughtfully accompanied on banjo and with lovely, neutral backing vocals by her friend, Rachel. Plain’s unorthodox guitar tunings and effortless voice sat really well with cleverly placed bursts of banjo (although it sounded more like a sitar), none more so than on Actually from freshly released album, Friend.
Maybe the support’s minimal use of equipment was due to the fact that there wasn’t room for anything else on stage – Anna Calvi’s setup included a plethora of vintage synths, squeezebox, glockenspiel, drums, amps and barn-door lights that were to fit in perfectly with the theatre that ran through the evening’s performance.
Calvi sauntered onstage oozing confidence, ripping into an Elvis-style vocal and throwing her sharpest shapes left, right and centre. She’s a bit of a photographer’s dream, to be honest.
The next 2 songs demonstrated the sheer power at Calvi’s command – Suzanne and I and Eliza were pounding, essential, irrepressible and chock-full of melodrama.
Ever-present characteristics of theatricality and intensity combined with raw power shone throughout the set. A thoroughly impressive succession of songs saw Cry (a fabulous composition off 2013’s One Breath), full of tasty slide guitar, followed by a suspense- and menace-filled cover of Fire by Bruce Springsteen that erupted into its rousing climax, illustrating Calvi’s sheer intensity as an artist and stage presence. Next, what seemed like a listless guitar noodle eased through the gears into blazing fretwork, then segued into Sing to Me – a song with restrained, ghostly verses that open out into a cinematic chorus. The subtleties of squeezebox and glockenspiel in this tune were buried in a somewhat fat, flat synth bass, but on the plus side, the song served to highlight Calvi’s truly astounding vocal range.
The vocals were flawless all night – although that was always going to be the case. However, some songs married with Calvi’s voice deliciously – both Suddenly and Desire nod towards classical training, and Desire’s spirited performance featured a huge vocal note that filled the Dome and made the hair stand up on the back of the neck.
It wasn’t all balls to the wall pomp and romping, though: Carry Me Over focused on a delicate glockenspiel part and included Chris Isaak-style guitar work. It was a sleek and stylish, classy affair with smart contrasts of light and shade throughout.
It seemed fitting that Calvi played Jimi Hendrix’s Foxy Lady as one of her encore numbers. It didn’t faze her in the slightest – she can handle Hendrix’s chops (and then some) and commanded his gentle baritone melody in a way he never would have been able to. Add in a generous pinch of theatrics, tension and Calvi’s own particular brand of sass and sauce, and you’re left with a rather decent cover. Oh, and end it on a searing vocal. Impressive doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Adam Atkins