CityLife

Duffy continues to impress as she moves up another gear from her performance at the Ritz earlier in the summer. Last night, she controlled the stage strutting confidently, if at times a little comically, with little shimmies that Ronaldo would be proud of.<br /> <br /> The stage set was impressive and her song selection taken naturally from the excellent Rockferry album. Early highlights were singles Stepping Stone, with melodic support from the "Duffettes", and the powerful Warwick Avenue. The interlude with Syrup & Honey merging into an unexpected but delightful version of Wonderwall was exquisite. The music was enhanced by a string quartet complimenting that soulful voice. Her band were solidly professional but perhaps a little overbearing for the first few songs until the balance was restored.<br /> <br /> Duffy's quirky sense of humour makes her very likeable and the pantomime audience of Mums, Dads, boys and girls of all ages thoroughly enjoyed themselves singing along at every opportunity. We all loved Mercy, of course, and a chance to dance - yeah, yeah, yeah! Duffy left us with a 3 song encore, climaxing with the excellent Distant Dreamer.<br /> <br /> Hopefully the new year will bring as good a follow-up collection of songs as Rockferry before Duffy is ready to move up another notch to play arena gigs.<br />