The Beat Surrender

I was in two minds about whether or not to go see KT Tunstall live, i’ve liked her on record and I do think she’s underrated, but I wasn’t sure what sort of a show she’d put on and especially in this fairly big venue that is probably the worst in Leeds for sound, atmosphere, air conditioning and beer!

At first the decision was taken out of my hands, the gig sold out before I got around to getting tickets. Luckily through one of the PR contacts I work with I managed to get my hands on a couple of guest list places to get into the show…or so I thought. Leeds in general you see struggles with guest lists at a lot of the venues and despite the fact i’ve had confirmation a few times that i’m on the list, I find that i’m not when I get to the door. Tonight was no exception, but after 5 minutes waiting and a nod from the tour manager we are in to get a beer.

Maybe it’s because of the type of audience cross section that KT Tunstall has, but for once the queue’s for the beer aren’t anywhere near as long as they usually are at this venue, in fact before the gig everything seems very civilised and fairly relaxed. A few beers later and i’m feeling really relaxed, bar the odd gripe I have with the support band!

You see King Creosote it turns out are only on the bill because Willy Mason has had to pull out, so despite the fact that I didn’t know he was meant to be playing, when I do find out i’m a little bit disappointed. Add to that the fact that they are a fairly mediocre semi-folk style band that do nothing to stand out from the crowd and i’m glad when they finish.

KT Tunstall is then a breath of fresh air when she arrives on stage, yes ok she looks quite cute in her little tight jeans but aside from that fact she’s engaging and entertaining from the start. She mixes up her tracks nicely between the two album and changes pace between rocky numbers and the slower tracks effortlessly which keeps things interesting.

We get treated to an acoustic set in the middle of the show where it’s just her and a few old songs and a rocking (despite being acoustic) version of Black Horse And The Cherry Tree. She jokes with the crowd when she applies talcum powder to her guitar about strange white powders and the whole night is a little more rock n’ roll than I expected, it’s good!

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