It’s been 10 years since we last saw Jack Peñate in Bristol. Then, he was playing the 1100 capacity Anson Rooms in support of his critically-acclaimed second album, “Everything Is New” , fresh off the back of a sub-headline slot on the John Peel stage at Glastonbury. Tonight it’s a much more intimate affair at the 140 capacity Louisiana ahead of the release of his third album, “After You“, next month.
It doesn’t take Jack long to reference the sizeable gap between records as he points out that he could have had a child in the interim who would now be starting secondary school.
His live shows were well known for being exceptionally energetic; when last in Bristol in 2009, he was diving into the crowd and climbing speaker stacks as if the stage was not big enough to contain him. Tonight, however, there is no band or support act – it’s just Jack, an electric guitar and an echo pedal. It’s quite a change to see a more restrained, measured performance from him. He jokes about the difficulties of playing Bristol’s Thekla on Ketamine and how he is “not that person anymore”.
He opens with “Learning Lines” from his 2007 debut; it’s hushed and a little shaky. The sold out audience of mostly late 20-somethings are entirely silent and attentive throughout. He moves onto second album opener, “Pull My Heart Away,” and any initial unsteadiness disappears. Vocally, Jack is at his best when he’s bellowing and losing himself in the song. The louder he is, the louder the crowd are and the singalongs begin for this track.
It’s a reasonably short set at just under an hour long. There are 3 tracks from each of the early records and a handful of new songs. It’s hard to get a measure on the new tracks as these stripped back renditions are probably not reflective of the recorded versions. The two new songs already released – “Murder” and “Prayer” – are very well received tonight though with the crowd happily on backing vocals for both.
Interestingly, early favourites like “Torn on the Platform“, “Spit At Stars” and “Have I Been A Fool?” are all skipped but he does point out that’s here because of the new music. The early songs that do get an outing – such as “Be The One” with it’s built-for-crowd-participation post-chorus of “did we really, did we really fall in love?” – are greeted like old friends.
An unnecessary, busker-like cover of Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” is incongruous to the rest of the set but it’s forgotten about by the time he accepts a crowd request for “My Yvonne“; probably the song which works best in this solo set up.
During his hiatus, it felt like Jack Peñate had unfinished business and tonight he showed Bristol that he’s ready to pick up exactly from where he left off.