Let me start by saying that I love Laura Veirs.....I have looked forward to her new albums ever since 'Troubled By the Fire' was released, and have loved every release since. That said, for various reasons, this was to be my first time seeing her live, so I headed down to Sheffield with great anticipation. I'd also never been to The Plug before.......and won't be returning. Let me explain...
The only description for the Plug is a warehouse... and a freezing cold one at that. I assume it's packed to the rafters on Friday and Saturday nights with students raving or whatever they do nowadays, and everyone's having a great time. So the venue could not be further removed for an American off - kilter folk band midweek in November. The stage is crammed into one quarter of the space, with a couple of hundred mainly bearded types, including me, with our coats on, squeezed between stage and mixing desk, the vastness of its size suggesting it was bought second hand from Muse's last arena tour.
Despite its size, this couldn't prevent Laura's mic being barely audible for the first 30 seconds of opener Sun Song from the fabulous and latest album Warp & Weft. So then, as if to overcompensate, her mic went into shouting mode....great start.
The set was divided approximately 50:50 between acoustic and electric driven songs, the latter mainly when the new songs were played, and Laura's banter and chatter with the crowd was engaging (asking what Sheffield was famous for, the answer came back as steel and Henderson's Relish). Shapeshifter, from the new album was inspired by murmurations of starlings she had witnessed on previous visits to the UK, and July Flame is named after a variety of peach. Both were highlights for me as the sound balance was sorting itself out.
The fabulous 'America and White Cherry' closed the set, with Laura thanking the crowd for coming out and sympathising that we had probably all got work in the morning.....if we thawed out by then anyway.
So in summary, my first live experience of Laura was a disappointment, not of the bands doing, but by venue choice....I still love Laura Veirs, but how about the Brudenell next tour, or even better, the Tipi tent at the End of the Road Festival.
Keith
