Gabrielle Aplin, tour review: a mini triumph

Aplin was once a hesitant performer - happily, she's not anymore, says John Aizlewood
The cherry on top of the cake: Gabrielle Aplin avoided the self-effacing approach as she showcased her new album (Picture: Steve Gillett/Livepix)
STEVE GILLETT / LIVEPIX
John Aizlewood10 July 2015

Bath’s Gabrielle Aplin is still chiefly known for a character-free cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s The Power of Love which topped the British singles chart in 2012. Faced with the prospect of slogging through the thing forever, she slayed her golden albatross at her first London show in two years by not playing it.

There were no complaints and the hesitant performer with a hesitant debut, 2013’s English Rain, is no more. She showcased much of her forthcoming second album, Light Up the Dark, musing “that’s probably more exciting for me than you”. Happily, she was wrong.

The Tube strike ensured the sold-out Wilton’s was less than full, but rather than go for the self-effacing approach, 22-year-old Aplin was the cherry on top of a cake of clatter and she sagged only on the solo Don’t Break your Heart on Me. The mostly unheard songs featured massive choruses and swashbuckling arrangements, played by a seven-piece band including stentorian piano, violin, guitars and, during What Did You Do?, the ever-welcome glockenspiel. People sang along to Hurt as if it were an old friend, while the marvellously overwrought Slip Away suggested both Florence and Feist.

The older material benefited from the new setting, especially the closing lullaby Home which ended as a heart-tugging a cappella free-for-all. A mini-triumph; greater ones will come.

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