Whilst the city that is Glastonbury was partying to the sound of Coldplay, the village of Thornton Hough was celebrating the songwriting talent of Katie Nicholas. To mark the halfway point in her ‘Songwriter Diaries’, a year-long YouTube series charting her musical journey so far, this headline gig saw those nestled in the cosy and accommodating venue treated to a set far removed from the glossy pyrotechnics of the Pyramid Stage. Despite the lack of sleek spectacle, it was a lovely reminder from the Liverpudlian of the power of music at the grassroots level. Its magic isn’t just reserved for the big festivals.
She was joined here by Astles whose support slot was the ideal warm-up given his wonderfully reflective style of songwriting. Peppered in between with dry humour, his songs were suitably mellow for a crowd listening intently; shot through with a melancholic vocal that made ‘In the Rain’ and ‘Little Boat’ heartrending yet hopeful. Katie then subtly transformed the atmosphere with her opening track without losing any of the emotional depth he had carved out. In fact, the lovely, bubbly Folk of ‘Space and Time’, when combined with the pensive thoughts of ‘Sitting Ducks’, ensured a like-minded continuum between the two artists. They complimented each other well.
Katie admitted that the reason for her current project was to try and say goodbye to her past songs whilst also honouring them. She has talked previously about shedding her skin in order to begin a new chapter, but in trying to “stop gabbing” in between songs is to lose part of her charm in live performance. The moments when her dad blows a kazoo from the front row, she admits “I’m nervous” before playing ‘I Love You Cause I Hate You’, and the reason why ‘Jolene’ by Ray LaMontagne means so much to her, provide the humour, vulnerability and circumspection that help her, as both an artist and a person, make a connection to her audience. The result is both a more affecting set and a noticeable level of comfort on her part.
As the light fades outside, the stage illuminates an intimate red that wraps her solo performance of ‘I Love You Cause I Hate You’ in the fragility of the song’s tragic tale. An impromptu reading of her recently-written poem ‘Afraid of the Flame’ leads to eyes becoming unexpectedly tearstained. The technical difficulties that accompany the start of ‘Dizzy’ are dealt with so calmly as to lift this fun song to another level of enjoyment. And as Robert Vincent joins her and Ana Corcoran on stage to sing his song ‘You’re Standing Right Before Me’, one last burst of natural light brightens the back of the room, as if to encapsulate visibly the energy pulsating from the trio, such is their connection to each other. All are moments that, in this context, produce a different but no less special kind of experience to that found on the hallowed turf of Worthy Farm.
The high point in my experience of seeing Katie Nicholas live remains that night in the Nordic Church. Her appearance at the Royal Philharmonic at the end of last year comes a close second. Meanwhile, this latest episode seems to find her at the end of some sort of beginning. The page is turning. But first, time to give credence to what has been. For it will likely become the foundation for what is to come.
Click here to find out more about the ‘Songwriter Diaries’.
Featured Image (C) Katie Nicholas
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