Katy Steele @ The Spiegletent(27/9/2009)

Tue 6th Oct, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Katy Steele – the Little Birdy songstress makes the perfect celebrity crush. She’s cute without being intimidating; rock without being rough; and sweet without being sickly. And tonight’s setting was about as close as most will get to the dream of sharing her pillow.

Being ushered through the gorgeous venue between songs was surreal. The Speigletent was at capacity yet when the applause died, our choked whispers and shuffling footwear may as well have been piped through the house PA. It’d be lucky to hold 150 guests, but a hundreds of mirrors reflected a thousand sets of eyes.

If Steele’s voice had any cracks we’d surely be hearing them soon. Summarize is the faux opener and it’s melt-your-heart stuff, as is majority of the two-part set. All the Little Birdy nuggets are there and sound amazing, but it’s the opportunity to see Katy Steele as a real person that’s the biggest pleasure of the evening. Self-consciously giggling and talking to herself she moves between piano and guitar, alternating acoustic and electric. Her crowd interaction and between-song banter is endearingly awkward, attributed presumably to the phantom-limb effect of normally playing with a band and being accustomed to comforting screams as opposed to engaged silence.

Katy’s brief song anecdotes are perfectly enthralling and flatter the inner-circle feeling. Humbly she tells us of how she wrote this next song when she was seventeen, “before I knew anything about how to write a song… This song is called Relapse”. Like a bunch of school kids with a mega-star visitor, we’re glued. The well known and the not-so translate beautifully. Port Of Call she promises has only been played live twice before and the heart felt lyrics inspire a collective longing to be that song’s inspiration. The evening’s penultimate offering is yet another exclusive, One In A Million. Before the closer calls for lights, a girlish giggle break-down stops Brother mid-song. It appears “Can you give me a clap” was a request for crowd aid rather than admiration! Obviously caught off-guard by the immediate applause, Katy takes a few moments to regain composure before leading the chorus claps herself.

Clearly feeling fortunate to have spent such quality time with Ms Steele the exiting crowd mumble and exclaim their admiration. The show is a testament to the deliciously listenable quiver of material she’s created. This reviewer can’t help but feel blessed and a little bit superior, having experienced the real Katy Steele.