Laura Marling at St. John at Hackney Church
St. John at Hackney Church, 2 November 2024
My sixth time seeing Laura Marling and this time it was the last night of a four day residency at a grand old church in the heart of Hackney. I had a standing ticket but it was such a mellow affair that I think it actually would have been greatly improved by being all seated but nevertheless it was a charming night, half solo and half with a string quartet and choir.
I've never been to a concert at St. John at Hackney before and wasn't sure how big it was (it turns out it's probably a similar size to The Forum, I'd say, and although a church, inside it was more modern and less like the traditional church I've been to before for concerts), so I arrived to queue about an hour early and there was already a lot of people waiting, which was a bummer. My favourite memory this year is turning up on time for the Waxahatchee gig and still getting a plum spot at the front, but no luck this time. So I didn't get the barrier and, as there was no support act, it was quite boring waiting for her to finally take the stage (again with a seat, it would have been better). I probably should have bought a balcony seat so really it's my fault.
When Marling finally emerged she was dressed in a simple light brown shirt and blue jeans, and looked very natural in either no or minimal make-up. She had already played a matinee show that day (I wish I had gone to that one!), but seemed fresh and eager still, maybe because this was the last night of her London residency (she's going to do a similar one in New York too next week).
From what I can see, the set list was the same every show, but she started off with an ambition four song medley of Take The Night Off, I Was An Eagle, You Know and Breathe, which seamlessly flowed into each other and sounded like one long epic song (all from the album Once I Was An Eagle, so in a way it was). At the end she congratulated us for enduring a 14 minute song, but really it didn't feel that long at all.
After this she took us through a nice little selection of songs from throughout her career (incredibly her new album is her eighth album, tenth if you include the two albums she recorded as Lump), Tap At My Window (from her debut Alas I Cannot Swim), Noeul (from Semper Femina), Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) from I Speak Because I Can and no less than four tracks from her previous record Song For Our Daughter (the title track, Fortune, The End Of The Affair and, later at the very end For You). This might be because she didn't really get a chance to tour that album as it was released during the lockdown, so it was nice to finally hear them live.
To showcase the new record, Patterns In Repeat (her first since becoming a mother to a daughter last year), she invited on a string quartet, a bassist and a small choir (called, amusingly, the Deep Throat Choir) to accompany her, playing pretty much the whole album (the only songs she didn't play were the two instrumentals). It did add variety to the show and added a rather magical, spiritual vibe to the songs, especially with the echo of the church. Child Of Mine sounded particularly lovely with the backing vocals harmonising behind her.
When they had finished playing the entire album, she thanked the quartet and choir, and in a lovely gesture the bassist gave her a bunch of flowers, as it was the last show of their run with her (I'm guessing she will have a local quartet and choir when she plays in New York, which is a nice idea).
She then gave us a solo performance of the old song, What He Wrote, before inviting back on the Deep Throat Choir (sorry, that name!), who sang some atmospheric backing on the tracks Daisy and Once. Although she didn't really speak much during the entire show, concentrating on the music and I guess giving us our money's worth with a 20 song set, she did at the end warn us that this was the last song, "as I don't play encores" explaining that it's not that she doesn't feel the audience deserves one but she just feels uncomfortable with them (I remember one time I saw her she said she had played an encore the previous night but it had felt so wrong, she just added that song to the setlist the next night instead). I'm not against encores either, when it is an entirely genuine thing (like the time I saw Screaming Trees supporting Alice In Chains in the 90s and the audience went so crazy for them, they were kind of forced to come back on for another song: the only time I've seen a support act do an encore!), but they feel so fake most of the time, so I always appreciate artists like Marling who refuse to do them. When she played her final song, For You, it felt so natural and a much better ending. It also ended just where she started, alone on the stage with just her guitar, which in a way, is all she needs.
Marling's fans are very devoted I must say, there were girls around me who gasped with delight when they heard her dig out old favorites, so that was very nice, and some young ones may well have been seeing her for the first time. I first saw Marling when she was just 17 years old (she's almost 35 now), before her debut album came out, supporting Grant Lee Phillips at Dingwalls, and I was equally impressed by her performance which seemed way beyond her tender years as I was by the fact she stood by the stage enraptured for Phillips' set. I've seen her in many guises since then, with different bands and different phases of her sound, so in many ways this felt like a return to the simple way I first saw her, at least for half the show, just a guitar and a voice, and instead of her being enraptured by another more experienced artist, her fans being completely enraptured by her. It's definitely not my favourite time I've seen her, mainly because of the setting (and the standing: don't worry I've learned my lesson), but it did feel like I had been full circle with her, which was rather lovely.
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