BILLY BRAGG + NADINE SHAH | LIVE REVIEW
****
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Thurs 7 June
Opening the 2018 Festival Of Voice, Billy Bragg was its first major headliner, with support from fellow singer-songwriter and political activist Nadine Shah. There was something perverse in two acts so openly left-wing playing a venue so glamorous and high-end – both were in awe of the venue and mentioned it a few times during their respective performances.
Nadine Shah opened the show with probably the best ‘backing’ band I have ever had the satisfaction of both witnessing and listening too – as a collective they were immense, and Shah can sing, really sing. The only negative, and there is really only one, is that throughout her entire performance the lyrics sometimes came through quite muddy in the venue; whether this was intentional or not, it ended up having the effect of drawing the audience into her music.
Billy Bragg has this aura and stage presence that is such that you cannot help but listen to everything this guy says on the stage. As is normal with Bragg, he doesn’t tend to put out a set list for the night and just decides on the songs he will perform after soundcheck. But if you find that daunting, especially for someone with a back catalogue as varied as Bragg’s, he nearly always talks about each song being sang beforehand, saying why he was singing it and what it meant to him.
The crowd were a mixed bag, of all ages, appearance and clothing, possibly from all sides of the political voting spectrum, though this might be debatable. And yes we did have a song called Full English Brexit, which did go down really well with the crowd; Bragg has not lost any of his ability to work an audience. His choice of songs were diverse but he pulled them all off. Musically he was fantastic. The venue also had the best acoustics for his performance. The highlight the last song, also his most famous song; he performed A New England with a little help from the crowd that even had me singing along to it. A musical legend still at the top of his game.
Billy Bragg and Nadine Shah performed as part of the Festival of Voice
words CARL MARSH photos TIM ALBAN