Alternate Routes & Paolo Nutini
/I went out to the Higher Ground to catch The Alternate Routes and Paolo Nutini as they played a couple of good sets of music up here. The Alternate Routes have been up here in Vermont before, and I was able to see them at their free concert back in July. Paolo Nutini, I'd heard of, as he's been on the radio with his two singles.
The Alternate Routes opened, and played a fairly good set this time around. It was a bit of an improvement over their July performance, and it was a bit of a shorter set, and they had concentrated on their better songs. Consequencely, their songs were pretty fast, which brought the crowd into full gear by the middle of their set until their finale. They once again used their toolbox & microphone combination during Fourtune Teller (I really hope that this makes it into their next album, whenever that is.) and they got the crowd singing along for My Old Lady. They pulled out an incredible amoung of energy for their time on stage. They're still a new band, and had a couple of moments where they stumbled a little. They talked a little much between songs, but they've really started playing much better together as a group. Above all, it looked like they were having fun.
Set List: - Shelly - Time Is A Runaway - California - Going Home With You - Roxanne (Tease, The Police) - Fortune Teller (Toolbox) - Aftermath - Ordinary - My Old Lady
Paolo Nutini is an artist that I don't know a whole lot about, andreally didn't have a whole lot of time to research them. I've listenedto New Shoes a number of times, and was fairly surprised at how raspy hesounded, as if he's been on tour for a long time. He was also a bithunched over and seemed shy on stage in front of everyone, and took acouple of songs to really get a good flow going. They really kicked inwhen they got Trouble So High, a cover song, where the reggae sound really complimented his vocal work.
It took a while to get used to his voice, but it's different, and worked pretty well with his songs. The faster songs worked the best with him, such as New Shoes, Last Request and Trouble So High, as well as a couple of others. He also did a number of covers - 3 - which seemed like quite a bit compared to other concerts that I've gone to. By the end, it looked like he was beginning to enjoy himself, and the crowd certainly seemed to be enjoying the act - he was the main focus of the night, and the crowd got into his music much faster than they did with the Alternate Routes.
Set List - Alloway Groove - New Shoes - Rewind - These Streets - Autumn - Natural Blues (Moby Cover) - Millions Faces - 55 to 1 (New Song) - Everybody's Talking (Harry Nielssen Cover) - Last Request - Rainbows - Jenny, Don't Be Hasty Encore - Millions of Stones? - I Wan'na Be Like You (Louis Prima & Phil Harris Cover - From the Jungle Book) - Funky Cigarette
Both performers did very well on stage. The Alternate Routes seems to be improving their act, at least since I'd last seen them in July, and they performed a really good, if a short, set. They demonstrated a considerable amount of energy and really seemed to enjoy their time on stage. Paolo Nutini seemed to be a bit more shy in front of the crowd, but played a fun set that really got the crowd going, which was fun to watch, with a good blend of fast and slow songs. In both cases, they both played their radio singles early in the sets, which surprised me, but it seemed to work nicely. They built up to a finale with their faster songs and settled into some of the deeper tracks from their albums over course of the sets. A couple of people asked me what I was doing while I was writing down the set lists, which was interesting. I handed out this address to a couple of people, and if you're reading this, thanks for your interest and hope that you found this okay. I also talked with a husband and wife who were there with their daughter, and they seemed to enjoy their time there.
I'll get more pictures online at some point later today.