CityLife

Paolo Nutini

Paolo Nutini
Apollo
October 5, 2009

THIS prodigious young talent certainly puts the nut in Nutini. After all, you’ve got to be nutty, haven’t you, to fuse together reggae, Irish folk music, soul, jazz, skiffle and ballads while trying to look like a pensioner with osteoporosis.

But somehow Paolo Nutini makes it all work.

The Irish-sounding Scot of Italian descent from a Paisley chippy (how nutty is that?) appeals equally to his original adoring girly fans – some still chant ‘Paolo, Paolo’ in the style of a Bay City Rollers concert – and the grizzled older blokes attracted by shades of Marley and Van Morrison.

Wearing the kind of loose brown jacket that a 70-year-old would be proud to sport while pushing a trolley round B&Q, Paolo further belied his youth by opening with a smorgasbord of older musical styles.

His big band and horns section was more than up to it as the stylistic wallops kept on coming. Loving You saw him shift into full Marvin Gaye-Wilson Pickett mode.

Invigorating

So far so dazzling, but it took the foot-stomping Smokey Joe’s Café to really get the crowd going.

Candy, the lilting folk song that catapulted him into a whole new market, was performed with acoustic guitar and little backing.

He still has that knack of exciting the females, even though his old geezer stoop seems to get more extreme by the minute.

With his red trainers seemingly glued to the stage, Paolo continued to sway and bow, almost to the point of being doubled up, before hitting another high with crowd pleasers New Shoes and Jenny Don’t Be Hasty, and then finishing off with the haunting Last Request.

Phew! That was some invigorating musical journey, and begs the question: how eclectic will his set be once he reaches 30?