Lissie at the Union Chapel

Lissie
Union Chapel, 30 June 2014

Hey, look! I accidentally took a kinda cool photo! Anyway, on with the show...

I'm not sure if Lissie is a blues singer disguised as a pop star or a rocker who is really a country crooner, maybe all of the above but one thing's for sure she has one hell of a voice. I don't know if her recorded work even really captures this fact but live it is something to behold. It's true too that she sounds a little like Stevie Nicks, although that's not the reason why I like her. On stage she looks like a female Bruce Springsteen, all white t-shirts and jeans and tanned skin, very American, but it's clear she isn't trying to be anybody except herself. Look at her recent release, an EP called Cryin' To You that features covers of artists as diverse as Danzig, One Direction, Drake and Bob Dylan, yet every one sounds uniquely her.

Last time I saw Lissie live was four years ago at the Heaven nightclub so one of the biggest selling points for me was the promise of seeing her in the far more intimate surroundings of the Union Chapel, easily one of the most beautiful venues in London. It's a place, more often than not, used for acoustic shows so I had geared myself up to seeing Lissie with an acoustic guitar playing stripped down versions of her songs. Sadly for me this wasn't really the case: her trusty Telecaster was strapped on and her full band (including two backing singers) was on show behind her. Not that this is a bad thing but it would have been nice to experience her in a different musical setting. Still it's pretty atmospheric, to say the least, to see her walk on stage with the setting sun streaming through the stained glass windows and begin to sing Oh Mississippi completely a cappela. Hearing a voice like that, in a echoing church so small and beautiful is without a doubt a pretty spine-tingling moment. 

Staying with her debut EP Why You Runnin' she then picks up her guitar as the band joins her and goes into the equally moving Here Before and her Hank Williams cover, Wedding Bells. It's interesting that she just released her sophomore album, Back To Forever, last year but she begins her show with songs that pre-date her first LP. Not that I'm complaining but it certainly shows Lissie is not afraid of forgoing her latest record in order to dig into her back catalogue. She did eventually get around to playing some Back To Forever material though, taking advantage of having the chapel's stunning organ on hand and giving us a new take on the song They All Want You.

Interestingly, for this show anyway, she slowly builds up to the more upbeat numbers with tracks like Shameless, Record Collector and the foot stomping Little Lovin' coming midway through. One of the best moments though came when a string section arrived on stage to accompany the band on Lissie's cover of the Judas Priest track Electric Eye, as heard on the new EP, which is actually incredibly effective and eventually turns into a rocking jam The Priest would be proud of. Also particularly memorable was Mountaintop Removal, which build slowly along with Lissie's passionate vocals and sounded much more epic than on the album.

The main set ended on two rockers, Further Away (Romance Police) and In Sleep, with Lissie marching in place and singing her little heart out. There's one thing for sure, Lissie is never not moved by the music she is playing, constantly swinging and swaying and dancing, it's hard not to start moving along too.

Back for the encore after the crowd goes wild, she ends with a very emotional version of the title track of Back To Forever, which she tells us was written in her grandparents closet back in Florida as she became sad for happy, long gone childhood, wondering to herself if it will ever be as good as that again (a turning-30 moment if there ever was one). Finally, she gives us her Kid Cudi cover, Pursuit Of Happiness, which she tells us he turned up in Paris to sing with her. It's not my favourite of her many covers but overall what a treat to see Lissie and hear that incredible voice of hers in a venue as intimate and wonderful as the Union Chapel.