Laura Marling at Queen Elizabeth Hall

Laura Marling
Gill Landry
Goodbye Chanel
Queen Elizabeth Hall, 29 April 2015

Near the end of the show tonight Laura Marling begins to play Warrior, the opening track on her new album Short Movie, and just completely forgets the words. She laughingly stops the band to compose herself, telling us "it's a lot of words to remember!" before flawlessly restarting where she left off. Not surprisingly it gets one of the biggest applauses of the night and, after such a serious, emotional and banter-free night, it provides a nice moment of levity.

The venue itself, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, adds to the tone of the evening though. Even Marling herself admits at one point that she doesn't know how to act in such a place and it does help make the atmosphere respectful and silence throughout. I've only been here a few times but it is probably my favourite venue in the South Bank Centre, and that's saying a lot as I think the Festival Hall and Purcell Room are some of the best places to see shows in London. In front of me there's an older man who actually paints wonderful little watercolour pictures of each act tonight, that's the kind of place it is. Briefly there are two awfully posh girls behind me determined to put their expensive shoes on the seats in front of them, drink and chat through the first three songs but thankfully they realise this isn't exactly a party atmosphere and leave (I suspect a rich relative with connections gave them freebie tickets but at least they didn't stay and ruin the whole thing). Whew! I have a seat close to the stage this time but really this is such a lovely, intimate venue wherever you are, I perfectly understand why Marling has decided this time to play four nights here rather than one at a much bigger venue, as so much would have been lost that way.

Last time I saw Marling it was at the Shepherd's Bush Empire and when writing about the show I admit I did give her a hard time for her privileged background (and I can't deny it still does depress me that there seems to be so little class diversity in music these days) but there is no doubt that she's hugely talented and more than a little bit special. She hasn't made a bad record and her latest, Short Movie, is one of her best. Back at the Empire show she performed all by herself, a tiny white figure on its big stage, but tonight I was hugely looking forward to seeing her with a band finally and, for me at least, it really transformed the songs into something quite mesmerising, as many were lengthened, flowering into something quite different and wonderful to get lost in. Her band is small, just a guitarist, bass player and drummer - who all make nice silhouettes against the desert on the screens behind them - but, even on the older tracks, complement her sound perfectly.

The show is really split between tracks from the new album and her previous record, Once I Was An Eagle, and this works incredibly well. There's still light and poignant moments but there's also more grit and power. Rather than comparing it to Dylan going electric, it reminds me more of Joni getting a band and finding her jazz influence - a flowing natural transition for her. Marling even takes older songs such as What He Wrote and Rambling Man (both from her second album I Speak Because I Can) and transforms them into almost different songs with this new fuller sound and it all sounds glorious. One of my favourite moments comes when she performs Sophia, from A Creature I Don't Know, one of the few electric tracks from her earlier records, and it builds and builds into this beautiful, loud, epic thing. It's sophisticated but raw and the backdrop slowly transforms into a starry scene, as the band reach their heights and then finally take their leave.

Alone on stage at last with the stars twinkling behind her she plays her little ode to her homeland (which she's only recently returned to after a stint living in Los Angeles), a moving and sweet Goodbye England (Covered In Snow), which still sounds appropriate even at the height of spring and nicely brings her full circle back to her acoustic roots. During this section we also get a lovely rendition of the classic Jackson C. Frank song Blues Run The Game (which does seem to fit in nicely with her moving back to England) and a new song called Daisy. I say new but apparently this came as a bonus track on the limited edition vinyl version of the album. This is only song tonight she gives a little introduction to, telling us that it very nearly made the record and was about one of her dear friends (not here tonight because she didn't shout out). She says she performed it the other night as an encore but as she doesn't usually do encores it made her feel uncomfortable (I actually really respect her for this, they are so fake). Because of this she has added it to the main setlist and while you can understand why maybe it didn't quite fit with Short Movie, it's a lovely song and a nice tribute to her friend, as she powerfully sings "a woman alone is not a woman undone."

The band returns for probably the rockiest, most punk moment of the night - not something I would have expected from a Laura Marling gig - the title track of the new record, with Marling gleefully shouting out, "it's a short fucking movie, man!" It almost seems too loud and full of attitude for the quaint little theatre but it's without a doubt one of the best songs of the night and a fantastic way to finish the set.

Earlier this evening Marling also made an appearance with her second support act, Gill Landry, a country/folk singer the word "Americana" was surely invented for. Landry sounded like Kevin Kline when he spoke and reminds me of a cross between Merle Haggard and Steve Earle when he sings. He also looks damn cool in a black hat and check shirt. Landry of course is a member of the band Old Crow Medicine Show but his music is more personal and low-key: real storyteller music. I can see why Marling seems smitten by him.

Also on the bill was a band from Leeds called Goodbye Chanel. To me they sound like Vampire Weekend meets surf rock with vocals by Turin Brakes. Frontman Scott Johnson also looks like he's channeling the 1940s via the 1980s (think Midge Ure's pencil moustache, wide trousers and quiffed, slicked back hair). I'm sure the first song is featured on some advert but, playing just four songs, they certainly don't overwhlem for a first act and I can't deny I enjoyed their harmony-filled, sunshiney set.