MULTI-MILLIONAIRE singer-songwriter David Gray is a very unassuming man.
Despite the fact he can probably paper his loo ceiling with five pound notes on a whim, he's always been the bloke next door (albeit a wobble-headed nodding-dogesque one) that you'd love to buy a pint for.
But at the last of his three sold-out shows at Camden's showcase venue, he astounded.
The man might have shot to fame with the acoustically catchy, honest and affecting single Babylon back in 1998, but what really made him own this stage this night was his embrace of a full-on arena experience.
David has grown into a proper rock phenomenon. Yes, his delicate singersongwriter skills are still there for which he's become famous, but at times he came on like The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay combined. Frankly, Keane and James Blunt can go do one.
Every song, backed by an expert band of guitar, keyboard and a show-off who could play bass and double bass, was rightly deemed a mobile phone picture experience from the young, old and very fashionably mixed crowd, who were packed to the rafters.
I should know, I was ducking my head in the cheap seats to avoid a black eye all night. To that end, Ruarri Joseph was a fine support for a man who sets so much store by keeping the song the star. Ruarri got the crowd clapping and singing along to the acapella title track to his album Tales of Grime and Grit. It was the perfect set-up for David Gray classics from his new Greatest Hits album such as This Year's Love, Please Forgive Me and Sail Away.
But the point was that, despite his intelligent phrasing and deft songwriting, all David's songs rocked. When he was at the piano tinkling up a storm, when he urged the crowd to clap along like a deranged Prince, when, goddamit, he appeared to be a sex god with a widow's peak in an all-black suit, the crowd hung on his every movement.
Gray really is the new black.
SET LIST
Shine
Ain't No Love
Long Distance
Babylon
Leaving
Long Black Veil
World To Me
Sail Away
The One I Love
Life In Slow Motion
Everything
This Year's Love
Late Night Radio
Hospital Food
Destroyer
Be Mine
Meet Me On The
Other Side
Night Blindness
Please Forgive Me
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