Grant-Lee Phillips and Dirty Old Town

I’m an absolute sucker for multi-instrumentalists, and watching Grant-Lee Phillips perform live and switch between his guitar, piano, banjo, drums, and so many more is something that I’ll never learn to take for granted. His voice is also incredibly versatile, and hearing him transition from a rocky track into a dulcet folk tune is something that I’ve never heard a musician master before.

His support act was great, a little acoustic trio who sang country folk music, and they warmed up the cored nicely. When Phillips took to the stage, he walked out and sat behind his piano, and had a brief chat with us in the intimate audience before launching into his first track, Happiness. He held the audience in absolute silence, and then we erupted into applause at the end. He was great at getting us to sing on some of his tracks, so that he could add harmonies to the melody without his loop pedal.

He played through a great selection of his tracks, and played almost the entire Walking in the Green Corn album, which had everyone singing along throughout. It was a wonderful show and a great atmosphere.