Duffy & Duke Special – Somerset House, London 18/07/08

21 July 2008, 09:31 | Written by Andrew Dowdall

(Live)

A night at the annual Somerset House outdoor courtyard series really needs a warm dry evening to stimulate that feeling of relaxed revelry that allows you to make believe you’re somewhere on the Continent only a short scooter ride from home (although to be fair, that would limit the drinking). The majority of punters working in the centre don’t want to cart around protective clothing all day, and there isn’t long enough for a ‘to hell with it’ attitude to develop as might happen at a festival proper. Slightly dampened spirits all round then that struggled to get shaken off on Friday night. A couple of years ago I’d caught Elbow on form on a balmy evening in this attractive Georgian amphitheatre, and I had an interest in seeing how six months fame and touring had changed the young Welsh girl I’d met with a few tens of others at a Rough Trade East in-store event in December. Was this to be a gathering point for Welsh ex-pats like myself? Who knows, but as my work colleagues had been reminding me all day, Duffy’s appearance may or may not have had any correlation with the arrest of a man for ‘sheep worrying’ in the outskirts of London. The late addition of personal favourite Duke Special as Duffy’s support act was a big bonus.

Duke Special (or Peter Wilson to his mother) performs in incarnations varying from solo to accompanied by the Belfast Symphony Orchestra, but on Friday took to the stage with two regular collaborators: hirsute fellow Irishman Réa Curran on trumpet, accordian and backing vocals; and Ben Castle straight from 1960s Carnaby Street on sax and clarinet. Exactly on cue, rain started to fall on and off as his set began. The audience that was interested in hearing him was distracted by zipping and unzipping, whilst those further back maintained a buzz of beer-supping conversation which may have been encouraged by not being able to see past the smattering of umbrellas. Duke himself was getting wet dreads positioned out in front of Duffy’s stage set-up. I’ve been a fan for a while, but the weather and larger open venue was not working in his favour and I wasn’t getting the sense of intimacy and rapport that is usually such a part of a Duke Special performance. Without their lush album treatment, the (wonderful) songs were not immediately finding their target with an audience largely accustomed to more direct and accessible pop. In fact, it all did seem a bit rusty live, perhaps because Duke is currently working on a new album (with among others Steve Albini in Chicago) and perhaps because of the usual support act comes off worse from soundcheck thing. I was hoping for a taste of some new songs. That wasn’t to be, as Duke used the opportunity of performing in front of a new audience to push merchandising of Songs From The Deep Forest. Only later single ‘Our Love Goes Deeper Than This’ strayed from this approach. Duke seemed flustered during his banter – for which I have no explanation. There was some audience participation at the end and a good reception, but strangely Duke finished the set by toppling his battered upright piano forward over onto its side. The wonky keyboard looked like it might not have enjoyed the experience too much as the stagehands cleared the space. Theatrical as ever perhaps; made enough money from this gig to finally get a new one perhaps; hopefully not pissed off. Ever the maverick. For a free Duke Special taster, ’Stumble And Fall’ available as part of an EP download from the Duke Special website is recommended.

The rain had stopped thankfully, and the P.A. was booming out almost every 60s motown and soul classic you could think of to noticably set the expected tone as we waited patiently for quite a while for Duffy to emerge. These two things led to the one conclusion: it wasn’t going to be a set that lasted much more than an hour, as every possible cover song that might have been used to beef out the Rockferry track listing had already been aired. With prices quite steep and tickets sold out, this was an indication of how meteoric her rise has been. On the plus side, it also meant she has definitely not succumbed to becoming one of those dreaded ‘costume change’ female pop performers. I do like Duffy – great voice, some killer singles, no false airs and graces. In short, good time girl. The set was similar to that seen at Glastonbury: opening alone with guitarist Jon Green, her piercing vocal for ‘Syrup & Honey’ sythed through the night air. It’s one of her best songs and was one of the best moments of the evening. Her voice was pretty much spot on for the rest of the time and the band are tight and enjoy themselves. Drummer Tom Meadows is particularly entertaining, and second guitarist Tobi Oyerinde looks all the more dapper for having a few more quid in his pocket these days. Without the enhancing string arrangements of the album, a couple of the slower songs could drag without their enthusiasm. ‘Tomorrow’, the B-side to ‘Mercy’, and free promo ‘Breaking My Own Heart’ (available for download here) were additions to the expected Rockferry lineup. Live, the latter song struggled to make an impact but was saved by the band towards its conclusion.

As she worked the stage, Duffy looked like Bardot as well as sounding like she’s from the 60s. She has a reportoire of ‘moves’ that are oft repeated and don’t look entirely natural, but I’m willing to take them as a mark of her endearing gauche charm that hasn’t been worked over by a slick management team. Her bubbly but stuttering song intros are similary unpolished, and divulge hints at the personal emotional stories that have triggered the writing of many of her songs. Still “struggling with English” as she says or not, she really is small town girl made good, but level-headed rather than air-headed. It’s true that her album is mid-paced except for the outstanding ‘Mercy’, and until that track brought the main set to an end, the crowd were no more than mildly enthusiastic – enjoying themselves but with no particular desire to express that fact too overtly. ‘Mercy’ is an undoubted belter though, and finally an exhuberant atmosphere filled the square as couples wiggled together and hands were raised aloft. A short encore was squeezed in before the curfew. Duffy will have alot to live up to when thoughts turn to a second album, but maybe her team are secretly already one step ahead of the game since they planned the release of the first album for three years. Either way, she should just enjoy world pop domination now while she can, and hope that the weather for it gets better.