Duffy @ Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall – June 3rd 2008

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If ever the Wulfrun hall could ever be full to the rafters, tonight was it. The million album selling Duffy appeared in front of probably just less than 2000 people in a hot and packed venue. No support band left the audience hanging on for 2 hours in some cases, not a great start for the evening, but the young Amy Duffy still managed to lift the spirits of the house with her stunning Dusty-esque vocal ability.

She started off the set with Syrup & Honey, the live performance of just Duffy herself with her guitarist Jon Green was truly amazing and it really showed off her voice for its true colours. The crowd was pretty placid all the way through the gig, but the atmosphere was still positive, Duffy managed to create a comfortable ambience with her songs on stage. A 10 track album does not leave any artist with a long set of course, so the band threw in a couple of B-sides and covers along the way, including Please Stay originally by Burt Bacharach, even still, the set lasted for a little over 1 hour in length consisting of 15 songs in all. Duffy had an impressive 6 piece band backing her, its clear that this Welsh popstar is going onwards and upwards from the kind of venues of this size, especially since her success stateside. When looking around the room, it is clear that her current success is down to the ability to cross over to different generations, the majority of the crowd is made up of people who probably remember the originals of Duffy’s style in the 60’s the first time round, even still, there are a few teenage girls running around excited to see their new idol.

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Duffy ploughed through her songs, leaving a little time for small talk in between which is when she really showed off her down to earth personality by humouring the crowd with her very home grown sense of humour, she has the confidence of a performer twice her age. The songlist included Rockferry, Serious, Delayed Devotion and I’m Scared, before playing Put It In Perspective, the B-side on her single Warwick Avenue. She also threw in the song Oh Boy, which Duffy continued to explain how this was the song that she was discovered as a singer with, therefore it has sentimental value to her. She’s entertaining to watch as a performer and holds her own as a young singer, she’s often compared to Amy Winehouse, buts its clear Duffy can hold her own in this game and will be around for a long time yet.

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She kept the crowd waiting for the much-anticipated Mercy, before leaving the stage to come back for an encore, finishing the set with Oh Boy and Distant Dreamer. Overall a great entertaining show and I think everyone in the room knew they were lucky to be seeing such an act in this size venue as I don’t think she’ll be back.

Review – Ross Whitehall
Photos – Lee Allen

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