Paolo Nutini stops off for five nights at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on his Last Night from the Bittersweet tour
Through the echoes of a years-long hiatus, amidst the ice and snow of wintry December in Glasgow, Paolo Nutini delivers heart, soul and Christmastime spectacle.
Photo: Press
Colloquially referred to in and around Glasgow by fans as just Paolo, as if an old friend (although to many he almost certainly is), excitement spread across the world early this year, upon revealing a new album was due for release after an astonishing eight year wait from his last album, 2014’s Caustic Love.
As such, when announcing his UK and European Last Night In The Bittersweet tour earlier in the year, many would have noticed the curious absence of any dates in Glasgow. With Paolo growing up in the neighbouring town of Paisley, it would only make sense for him to come back. Alas, Glaswegian fans were left waiting and waiting, until the later announcement of not a single show, but five at Scotland’s largest arena, the OVO Hydro.
Acclaimed and adored worldwide for bringing old-school sounds to the forefront of popular music, Paolo has given us youthful alternative rock, joyful swing and blues-influenced pop and no end of moody, soulful ballads. This time around was no different.
With the album the tour supports being sonically strong and coming in at one hour and twelve minutes in length, it’s great to hear a large number of the album’s sixteen songs live.
Engaging from beginning to end, the album only shows flashes of the bright brassy sounds of some of his other material, instead much of it finding more of a home in classic rock, akin to the likes of U2’s Joshua Tree and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.
Paolo took to the stage on that wintry night, opening with the album intro Afterneath, an expansive piece that serves to set the scene; sounding and feeling like an open road, you can only wonder where it could go.
Continuing into Lose It and Scream (Funk Your Life Up), there is momentum built as the prior’s slow burn evolves into a crescendo before the latter capitalises on this with its groovy and soulful eloquence. It gives Paolo the perfect opportunity to display his unique, powerful vocals for the first of many times that night.
The bridge of Scream is given room to breathe with the addition of some funky electronic elements, bringing with it a more experimental feel before building to the song’s climax. It is then followed by another Caustic Love song, Let Me Down Easy — this is the first taste of older songs being presented in a new light. There are more of the electronic sounds from the bridge of Scream, here in the song, and, although it’s quite different, it’s undeniably enjoyable and, even more so, danceable.
After this is where the new album really gets the chance to shine, with Acid Eyes, Stranded Words (Interlude), Radio and Heart Filled Up all getting room to breathe and complementing each other perfectly. Some of these were my night’s personal favourites and were excellently received by the crowd at large.
Acid Eyes, as on the album, is delicate and moving, a portrait of regret and mistake and one of the night’s true highlights. Stranded Words is a slower, often at times spoken word moment from the album, with pads that roll under Paolo’s considered vocal performance that highlights the poetic lyricism he employs.
Radio then, similar to Acid Eyes, is one of the most moving of the night, a moment where the classic rock influence shines through. From the thrum of the bass in the intro, it moves and builds to a burst of brass and showcases Paolo's powerful, raspy upper range. Heart Filled Up fits in here excellently, carrying the pace along nicely and keeping the atmosphere in the same lane as Acid Eyes and Radio as it builds to its distorted, electronic release.
Better Man and Through The Echoes are both largely stripped back with a focus on acoustic guitar and are equally very warmly received, with Paolo mentioning the great reaction Through The Echoes had gotten on the previous nights, no doubt where it had similarly been a massive sing-along for the crowd.
Coming Up Easy starts in a similar vein: acoustically minded, with the drums not entering until the last minute of the song where it opens up massively and Paolo powerfully and playfully declares:
“It was in love I was created / and in love is how I hope I die.”
Petrified In Love follows suit and keeps the playfulness going before moving into what must have been the most polarising moment of the night, where Pencil Full of Lead and its freedom-inspiring swing and jazz sounds are switched wholesale for a Rock and Roll reworking — complete with organ. Bearing the smallest resemblance of the night to any song’s original presentation.
Something I endlessly appreciate from Paolo is this bending of the traditional presentation of alternative rock, pop, even soul music and beyond, to which he always adds a flair of his own. Bearing that in mind, this newest album probably still most closely resembles that debut album: guitars and alternative rock; wistful, emotional, both balladeering and anthemic. Baring the honing of craft he has worked at over the last fifteen years and distilling time down into reassuring anecdotes of regret, heartbreak and living.
Although it worked, this rejuvenation of Pencil Full Of Lead — already one of a minority of older songs that Paolo played on the night — and it even worked well, it stings just a little not hearing a more familiar version, considering that you can’t hear a song like the original from anyone else.
Capping off the main set is a variety of old and new. A much talked about medley of Jenny Don’t Be Hasty, one of Paolo's biggest songs to date, a cover of The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks, and a tasteful coda of New Shoes. Followed swiftly by Take Me Take Mine, Candy and Everywhere.
The medley mentioned above works in a much different way from Pencil Full of Lead. Here, many of the sounds and melodies are kept intact but for a few iterations, some rhythms are changed around and the like but it’s easy to feel the love you have for the original Jenny. The cover is also a great choice that goes well alongside the other songs, leading to Paolo going on a quick rant concerning lost love where he pays tribute to another Scottish icon, comedian Limmy, as he then decides the only remedy is to put his new shoes on.
Take Me Take Mine and particularly Everywhere are great additions from the new album, Everywhere being another where Paolo can flex his vocal prowess, it must be said there was no point at which Paolo's vocals didn’t manage to elevate the energy in the room, a testament to how well he truly owns his performance.
Candy also finds its spot in here and is gorgeously played, this is the most faithful by far in terms of the older songs in his catalogue and captures every bit of the magic that the original does and was a true pleasure to hear before the end.
My connection with his music, and especially the music he is making at this stage in his career, left me fulfilled hearing songs of a lost brand like Acid Eyes, Radio and Everywhere being played, where it sometimes felt like certain kinds of songs, in an unexplainable way, aren’t written in these times.
Nonetheless, while I loved hearing the material of Last Night In The Bittersweet performed live and I do love it as a whole, from growing up on These Streets, I did long to hear some more from my childhood brought to life in person.
And, as such, the undeniably sparse representation of his earliest work in the show did leave me longing for more of it. Especially when the little that is being performed is mostly reworked into different versions.
But this is no major drawback — these newer songs made for a great and memorable show, and it hadn’t even finished.
After leaving the stage and returning for an encore, Paolo played the gorgeous Julianne and Shine a Light, for which he shared an anecdote about striving to be a better person and shining a light for others.
He also played my most anticipated song of the night, Iron Sky, which was both impressive and rousing and showed off Paolo’s vocal capabilities as in the original recording. Maybe Paolo’s most political song, a protest anthem of sorts, he capped it off with an expression of his disdain for the British Tory Government.
After a quick chat with a band member and the exchange of a guitar, he embarked on a seemingly unplanned solo acoustic performance of some songs. As the band departed, Paolo played Writer alone; it was incredibly heartfelt and would have been a fitting way to end the show with the lyrics: “Thank you, and goodnight”.
It was only one lucky thought later when Paolo read the room to great avail and donned the guitar one last time for an impromptu Christmas singalong of Fairytale of New York. With several funny pauses and improvisations, Paolo conducted the arena as a choir through all the stages of that great tale of love and its woes, and ended beautifully on:
“So Happy Christmas / Oh, I love you Glasgow / There's gonna be good times / Where all our dreams come true.”
It really felt like a moment of connection between everyone in the arena, singing and swaying together, and was a great end to a great show.
