Live Review: London Grammar, Wet

You sensed it was going to be a magical evening.

The gorgeous tones of London Grammar performing at an Auditorium up in the hills with a beautiful scenic view of the city – really, there’d be no better place for them to perform. Evidently, 4,998 others thought the same and we had to pull the cheeky ‘We’ve got industry parking and need to review’ line to sheepishly sneak our way down the queue of cars and make it into the venue to catch Wet’s set.

They were an appropriate support for the headliners, the New Yorkers wooing audiences with their eclectic mix of electronic, rock and pop, vocalist Kelly Zutrau’s vocals piercing through the evening air. Their debut album’s due for release soon, and they definitely managed to intrigue the few thousand punters there to witness the set.

London Grammar took to the stage one by one. Dominic Major made his way out first, clouded by wisps of smoke and beginning some beautiful piano sample melodies, before Dan Rothman wandered out, picked up his guitar and started strumming in what became a five-minute performance of building layers and textures. The crowd erupted as vocalist Hannah Reid walked out onto the stage and launched into Hey Now, the opening track of their only album to date. It was truly admirable to see that Reid’s vocals were were sounding just as good, if not better in a live setting as opposed to on record – and in this setting, her soaring melodies rivalled the best of any form of live perforance. Rothman told of the trio writing one of the songs in their dorm; “Don’t worry, there wasn’t a threesome,” he joked, before Reid turned around, saying “I can’t believe you said that, I’m so angry at you!” half-chuckling. “Sorry, I’m really nervous. This place is incredible, look at it!” Rothman exclaimed, to a roar of applause. They played through Wasting My Young Years, Nightcall and hit single, Strong, which produced a rousing singalong, and the set was over in what seemed like no time at all.

Thankfully, they came back to bid us farewell with If You Wait and Metal & Dust, leaving the audience feeling like they’d just witnessed something incredibly special.