Nick Harper Live Review @ Half Moon (Putney) - 02 May 2009

Photo: Mark Landells

Live Review

The last time I had seen Nick Harper perform was with his father, folk artist Roy, in 1992 in Tel Aviv. The Nick of yesteryear - head bent over guitar, laying low, not talking to the audience - bore no resemblance to the accomplished and assured artist who took to the stage here tonight.

During this first of two sell-out shows at London's Half Moon, he clearly demonstrated that he can hold his own with the crowd - and more. His guitar skills - as displayed on the fast and furious "Karmageddon", for example - are second to none; that coupled with his big elastic voice (which ranges from tender and sweet on the mellow likes of "Two-Way Thing" and "Before They Put Me In The Ground", to ardent and fiery in "Aeroplane"), and his witty banter with the audience in between songs, make for entertainment that is all-encompassing.

As for the songs, they are literal soundscapes from his life and run the gamut of every emotion in the book, whether they be about his father ("Crazy Boy"), mother ("Imaginary Friend") or children ("Blood Song", "Sunshine").

We were treated to two of his traditional guitar string breaks (this is a party trick that apparently started out as an accident way back when and worked its way into his performances to a point where the crowd actually waits for them to happen), the news of an older sister he never knew he had, Betty the Sat-Nav (don't ask - you had to be there), and German Jazz bands (also don't ask).

Of note to the guitarists out there, I noticed that he tuned his guitar down even a bit lower than I remember the songs being played - by at least another semitone. Perhaps a sign that his voice is getting lower and just trying to accommodate that, or is he just trying to keep us on our sonic toes?

Either way, it was a night to remember.

Marcie Schreier