The first of the two times I caught him in Austin was mind blowing as he followed Jimmy Cliff at Stubbs BBQ back yard, intimate surroundings, a warm evening and an even warmer atmosphere where the Americans lorded him with adoration. The following day he was performing on the main stage at Austin City Limits festival on a very hot afternoon and again it was brilliant but lacked the personal touch, which was expected for the situation. I was surprised, shocked even, when this tour was announced as he stepped up to the arenas. Prior to Caustic Love Paolo was always pretty awkward on stage, he couldn't even look at that crowd. A few days later I was watching his Glastonbury set and it all made sense, he'd 'come of age' on stage too!
Despite this transition I still feared he'd struggle to sell out these crazy sized venues, especially in Sheffield, I left it late, the day before the show and there was just a few tickets left. So, how did he fair on a mild Autumn Saturday night in Sheffield in front of 8,000 people on the second night of his UK tour?
Well... I'm struggle to think of any improvements to the performance which kicked off with Scream (Funk My Life Up) and Let Me Down Easy from the latest record before the more uplifting Coming Up Easy off Sunny Side Up and a combo of two tracks from the debut, Jenny Don't Be Hasty/New Shoes.
These Streets title track brought intimacy and a sing-a-long to the huge space whilst Diana took things down a peg or two as darkness drew in. One Day sounded massive, partnered with some impressive lights. Then there was the reinvented Pencil Full Of A Lead, again excellent, he even showed who he is comfortable on a stage as he pranced about on stage like Jagger
Iron Sky came with a powerful message as its atmospheric textures flew through the arena, exploding with intensity built up by Charlie Chaplin's speech, Paolo strolled off as the song came to its end, his band followed but he returned with an acoustic guitar to perform the folk-y Tricks, a delicate moment. His full band, of about a dozen came back for a cover of MGMT's Time To Pretend. Saturday night hell yeah!
Candy felt triumphant, a standing ovation for the band who left the Scot to conclude the set with Last Request, where the crowd volunteered to join in. One hour, forty five minutes of heaven. My only qualm is that music like this doesn't belong in these environments. The sound was bold, delivered flawlessly, the atmosphere was fine but having to rely on big screens to witness facial expressions takes away the magic. Paolo couldn't have given more and I'm not knocking arenas, some of my favorite shows (Watch The Throne/Katy Perry/Taylor Swift) have taken place in them but they were spectacles, taking advantage of the space with pyro, extra stages and theatrical touches. I wasn't expecting anything like that from Paolo but when you take the leap up to the bigger venues sometimes, however good the music is it still needs something more to reach out to those sat miles away.
I didn't want to end this on a downer as it couldn't have been much better, it is amazing that a truly talented musician and songwriter who isn't your conventional pop star or chart topper is in such demand by an audience of all ages.
