KT Tunstall LIVE @ Islington Academy Hall 20.6.13

After four albums, numerous awards and over a decade since she started, KT Tunstall is still able to sell out shows. She treated fans to a special intimate show at Islington’s Academy Hall, where she not only played through her newest album, Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon, she also made a new live album. The Evening’s performance was being recorded by Abbey Road Studios and was pressed and ready to buy at the end of the night. KT told the crowd “We’re making an album tonight London, so swear at me!’

KT Tunstall commands the stage and yet manages to maintain the feel that she’s performing to a group of friends, KT told the crowd stories and jokes and really made them feel at home. She opened with one of the title tracks to her new album, ‘Invisible Empire’, followed by, ‘Waiting on The Heart’, which she wrote in a few hours with a friend on the way to Mexico. KT then performed, ‘Carried’ which she told her audience “I wanted to write a song about death, surprise Tunstall, doesn’t do knees up but does do death. I thought about where you die isn’t where you stay, someone has to move you, do you trust them?” KT Tunstall performed the song like she was telling a story with pure vocals and soothing tones that helped you feel it all with her.

No words spoken, one note on the guitar and the audience went crazy, cheering and stamping their feet as KT, continued to play her golden oldie, ‘Otherside of the World’. KT told the crowd she gets bored of playing that song so she came up with a game, where she adds swear words too her songs as she leans away from the microphone, adding “Country Roads, a good one.”

KT, headed over to the piano to engage the audience in a ballad, ‘Yellow Flower’ which received standing ovation. KT then added a new section to her set entitled, Other Shit You Could Have Done, “You could have gone to the screening of Happy Feet 2, you could have seen a show, Spank You Love It. You could have gone to an Adult Jewellery making workshop in the Library. You could have gone to, Hip Hop Kareoke, I want to go to that, I’ve put on coaches they’ll be outside. I haven’t done that, but we are going horse riding.” At that point the small intimate venue, turned into a football stadium, with stamping, chanting and cheering.

KT Tunstall went from strength to strength, with her soft voice and powerful lungs backing her. Her most famous songs where just as good if not better than when they were first released and her newer material showed a more country soft side to Tunstall and truly show her talent as a lyricist as well as a performer.

Set List:

  1. Invisible Empire
  2. Waiting on the Heart
  3. Carried
  4. Other Side of the World
  5. Yellow Flower
  6. Through the Dark
  7. Black Horse and The Cherry Tree
  8. Alchemy
  9. Honeydew
  10. Feel It All
  11. Boys of Summer
  12. Made of Glass

Encore

  1. Crescent Moon
  2. Chimes

Samantha Foley

@thegeekinthepinkk