Amy MacDonald - The Omeara, London (UK) - 28 August 2017

With over nine million record sales to date, a fleet of luxury sports cars in her garage and an Autumn tour of the UK just announced, Amy MacDonald played a stripped back acoustic set at The Omeara, London Bridge to celebrate the tenth anniversary of her debut album, 'This Is The Life'.

With a penchant for fast cars - and a growing collection of luxury sports cars to prove it - and over nine million album sales to back her up, Amy MacDonald doesn't play at life in the slow lane. This Celtic Rock songstress had pure adrenaline fuelling her as she played a foot to the floor performance of grace and danger at The Omeara. As this is one of two 'special shows' ̶ the other being Glasgow ̶ to celebrate the Tenth anniversary of her breakthrough debut album 'This Is The Life', this evening's show was tangible proof of her own personal journey from a wide-eyed, raw talent to a savvy and accomplished songstress.




The Omeara, an undecorated and stripped wall venue set up under railway arches by Mumford & Sons' Ben Lovett, appeared to be the perfect space for Amy to play an unplugged acoustic set of her own songs. Moreover, without the adornment of production and electric band fills, the nuances in her tunes shone brightly in this dark cellar of a venue.

The accessibility of her edgy stage persona is clearly endearing when she connects with her flock of fans, trading bonhomies from the stage in between her powerful, driven songs. Amy prefaced her songs with more chat than usual, revealing that she has the most pessimistic of mothers who always 'sees the downside of everything' and 'looks at things from rock bottom' so that when it happens 'you won't be disappointed'. This glass half empty point of view inspired her to write 'Prepare To Fall', her strongest song in tonight's set, and this evening's performance proved to be the Big-Mac moment of her stripped back and puckish set. Her powerful delivery of the song's sentiment bounced off the walls in this 350 capacity vaulted hall.

The loudest cheers, from her partisan audience, came when she played the songs from her debut album. The warmth from the accompaniment of her three man backing band ensured that these cherished songs retained a raw and ready feel. This gave full rein to Amy's powerful and rounded vocal; something which her loud, amplified electric sets in much larger sold-out venues doesn't often allow her to reveal.




Indeed, there was a slight Americana feel to some of the song arrangements. 'Mr. Rock and Roll' and 'The 4th of July' seemed to channel a Nashville via Glasgow vibe that worked surprisingly well. But it was the smooth rockers taken from her current album, title track 'Under The Stars' and the Celtic lilt of 'Down By The Water', that particularly shifted the through the gears with their pulsating beats.

With a nationwide acoustic tour of larger venues announced, this show proved to be a very successful prelude and finely tuned run out of songs and their new arrangements that puts the spotlight firmly on MacDonald's incredible voice and popular songwriting.

Words by Paul Davies.

Photos by Andy Rawll.




Tour dates:

Sunday 29 October 2017 Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton, UK
Monday 30 October 2017, G Live, Guildford, UK
Wednesday 01 November 2017, Theatre, Venue Cymru, Llandudno, UK
Thursday 02 November 2017, Parr Hall, Warrington, UK
Saturday 04 November 2017, The Hexagon, Reading, UK
Sunday 05 November 2017, Baths Hall, Scunthorpe, UK
Monday 06 November 2017, Cambridge Corn Exchange, Cambridge, UK
Wednesday 08 November 2017, St John at Hackney Church, London, UK
Saturday 09 December 2017 Deacon Blue, and 1 other Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, UK
Friday 15 December 2017, Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, UK
Saturday 16 December 2017, Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, UK

For more information, please visit:

http://www.amymacdonald.co.uk